His passion for photography dates back to when he became the owner of a Kodak Box Brownie at 12 years old. After studying philosophy at Columbia University at the end of the 1930s, Avedon studied the art of photography under Alexey Brodovitch in the design department of the New School of Social Research. In 1945, he bought his own studio and worked as a freelance photographer for numerous magazines such as Life, Theater Life, Look and Harper’s Bazaar, becoming their favorite photographer.