Bruce Davidson was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1933, where he began his prolific photographic career at the young age of ten, when his mother built him a dark room. He spent his adolescence photographing different neighborhoods in Chicago. As a young photographer, he compiled a college thesis on football players that was published in LIFE magazine in 1955. After college, Davidson enlisted in the Army. At his first station, he was assigned to the base's photo pool. His talent as a photographer was recognized by an editor of the post's newspaper and was was asked to be permanently assigned to the paper, where he was given a certain amount of autonomy. Not long after Davidson was stationed in Paris, where he met the famed photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson. After briefly working as a freelance photographer, Davidson jointed the Magnum photo league in 1958.