Early in his photographic career in the 1940's, Todd Webb sought the guidance of the "Godfather of modern photography," Alfred Stieglitz. Webb soon became close friends with Stieglitz and his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe. After Stieglitz's death in 1946, Webb kept in contact with O'Keeffe. He visited her in the 1950's in New Mexico while he was creating a portfolio of images of the West with the help of two Guggenheim Fellowships. Upon completion of his travels in the American West, Todd Webb produced two books: Gold Strikes and Ghost Towns (Doubleday Press: 1961), and Gold Rush Trails and the Road to Oregon (Doubleday Press: 1963).

Encouraged by O'Keeffe, Todd Webb and his wife Lucille moved to New Mexico in 1961. During the 10 years that the Webbs lived near her, Todd created a large volume of work of the enigmatic O'Keeffe and the Southwest landscape that fill her compositions. Several of Webb's photographs of Georgia O'Keeffe are published in Georgia O'Keeffe: the Artist's Landscape (Twelvetress Press: 1984).