In 1968, a young photographer named Elliott Landy was assigned by the Saturday Evening Post to shoot a cover image of Bob Dylan. At the time, Dylan was at the height of his fame, while Landy was a relatively unknown photographer. Landy got the job after shooting his first record-album assignment, the Band’s Music from Big Pink, which got noticed by a friend of Dylan’s. The meeting spawned a friendship, yielded an album cover and a left a series of intimate photos of the musician with his young family.

In recognition of Dylan’s 70th birthday Tuesday, May 24, check out TIME.com’s special coverage.