Friedlander was born in 1934 in Aberdeen, Washington. He studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and then moved to New York in 1956 to work for Atlantic Records photographing jazz musicians for album covers. He's photographed the likes of Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and later Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and most infamously Madonna (which recently fetched $37,500 at auction). Friedlander was often known as a "street photographer." He had a documentary-style approach to taking photos and was greatly influenced by Robert Frank and his book "The Americans." Friedlander's first solo exhibition was at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York in 1963, after which he produced photo essays for Harper's Bazaar. Friedlander also incorporated himself into many of his photographs - whether these were straight-on self portraits, his shadow, his reflection, or his hands or feet. He became housebound because of health problems and had to take a break from 50 years of working in 1994, after which he produced the book "Stems," the inspiration of which came from flowers his wife placed around their home and he said reminded him of limbs. A good resource for viewing all of Friedlander's gallery exhibits (and there are a lot) is Artcyclopedia. And I'm absolutely loving his stuff that I'm finding at the MoMA, by the way.
(Self-Portrait, Haverstraw, New York, 1966)
(Count Basie Band, MoMA, 1956)
(Lake Louise, Canada, 2000)
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