Jan Lauschmann began photographing in 1912 with a camera given to him by his uncle. In 1921 he joined the Czech Club of Amateur Photographers in Prague and was a member of the editorial board of the Photographic Horizon magazine from 1923 to 1934 , where he also published a number of articles and photographs.

Lauschmann studied chemical engineering at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, later to become chemist at the Remed pharmaceutical factory in Prague, and then the Neobrom photographic paper factory, where he worked until 1951.