Formerly LIFE magazine’s director of photography, Friend is a Lucie Award-winning curator who has mounted exhibitions at the International Center of Photography, the National Portrait Gallery (in London, Edinburgh, and Canberra), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Newseum, and the United Nations. He has served on various photography juries, including World Press Photo.

Friend executive produced the documentaries

MLK/FBI (shortlisted for the 2021 Oscar), 9/11 (for which Friend won an Emmy), and last year’s Lakota Nation vs. United States. He is the author of The Naughty Nineties, Watching the World Change, The Meaning of Life, and More Reflections on the Meaning of Life. He has co-edited 13 Vanity Fair books.

As a correspondent, Friend covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and elsewhere. He was the founding editor of Life.com and VanityFair.com. His journalistic honors include the Pictures of the Year Award, Online Journalism Award, Peabody Award, and Wilbur Award. His poetry has appeared in The New Yorker.

Friend is a lifelong music fan; his son, Sam Friend (samfriendmusic.com), is a jazz, blues, and folk musician in New Orleans.