 Young Karel spent part of the early 1940s with his relatives in a few places, for example in a village near Blaník Hill.When he was about six he befriended František Šmejkal, who was the same age as him and who later became a notable art theoretician.At the age of fifteen Kuklík acquired his first camera (6x6 cm) and a year later he bought a 6x9 cm plate camera.