Madonna Does Alphabet City, Circa 1982

On their first outing in 1982, Madonna walked photographer Richard Corman around her neighborhood, using anything she came across as a casual backdrop for an afternoon of shooting. “I follower her around the Lower East Side,” says Richard. “She was so comfortable -- it was as if she was in her own backyard. “

Richard Corman’s first shoot of Madonna started on the rooftop of her apartment building. “After we came down from her roof,” he recalls, “we walked through the neighborhood, laughing and chatting, stopping in front of a storefront, stopping in front of a senior citizens home and hanging out with the old folks. She just went right up to a bench and squeezed herself in between two old men without saying anything, and I started shooting.”