 He has been awarded the Prix Nadar in 1957, the Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in 1999, and the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2012.Klein was born in New York City into an impoverished Jewish family.He graduated from high school early and enrolled at the City College of New York at the age of 14 to study sociology.