Here we see Baldwin as photographed by his great friend and former classmate, Richard Avedon. Baldwin and Avedon met at the prestigious DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Avedon and Baldwin both worked at the literary magazine The Magpie. Avedon was the editor in chief, and Baldwin contributed a several stories and poems over the years.

In 1964, the photographer and writer teamed up to produce the iconic book Nothing Personal. It was a radical project, pairing Avedon’s photographs—such as a dazed Marilyn Monroe and a nude Allen Ginsberg—with sober and fiery texts by Baldwin. Baldwin’s text serves as one of the emotional backbones of the book. It doesn’t speak directly to Avedon’s works, but rather to the times.