Thomas E. Franklin (born 1966) is an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

for '' The Bergen Record'', best known for his photograph '' Raising the Flag at Ground Zero'', which depicts

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s raising the

American flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

at the World Trade Center after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Biography

Franklin is a 1988 graduate of the

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...

. He has been with ''The Record'' since 1993, and has been a professional

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

and documentary photographer for over 20 years. He has won numerous awards for his photography, and his work has been widely published and exhibited. In 2005, his

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film ''Ford's Toxic Legacy'' won the New Jersey Film Festival's Best Jersey Film award and the New Jersey Press Photographers Association's New Jersey Understanding award. Based on ''The Record''s award-winning Toxic Legacy series, which exposed toxic dumping by the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

and its impact on the Ramapough Indians and the environment, Franklin was part of a team of reporters who received the 2005 IRE Medal—the top national investigative award—the 2006 Grantham Prize for Environmental Journalism, and the 2005

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

, for Toxic Legacy. Franklin has appeared on radio and television many times to discuss his photography. He has been a guest on many national programs, including

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, and Oprah. He has been a guest lecturer at major colleges and universities around the country and remains a highly sought-after public speaker in his local community, where he frequently speaks to civics groups, schools, corporations, and local organizations as a motivational speaker, sharing his unique experiences of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and his career. He produced a weekly photo-column in ''The Record'' called 'Picture This', featuring colorful aspects of life in North Jersey. In 2007, Picture This, received an Award of Excellence from POYi (

Pictures of the Year International Pictures of the Year International (POYi) is a professional development program for visual journalism, visual journalists run on a non-profit basis by the Missouri School of Journalism's Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. POYi began as an a ...

) and a First Place award in Feature Photography from the New Jersey chapter of

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

(NJ-SPJ). Franklin is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Media at

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

9/11 photos

Franklin rose to national acclaim for his coverage of the

terrorist attacks on New York. His now iconic image of three firemen raising a flag above the rubble of the World Trade Center, taken hours after the attacks, is one of the most identifiable and powerful images in history. ''

Life Magazine ''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly publi ...

'' listed it as one of the "100 Photographs That Changed the World," and the photo is part of the permanent collection of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. A

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

finalist in 2002 for his photographs from 9/11, Franklin has received dozens of national awards from

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

Editor & Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the news media industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry," with offices in Hendersonville, ...

, the Deadline Club, and National Headliners, among others.

Flag-raising photo

The flag-raising photo was made shortly after 5 p.m. on September 11, 2001. He was standing under a pedestrian walkway across the

West Side Highway The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from 72nd Street (Manhattan), West 72nd Street along the Hudso ...

, which connected the World Trade Center to the World Financial Center at the northwest corner. Franklin said the firefighters were about 150 feet away from him and about 20 feet (6 m) off the ground, while the debris was about 90 feet beyond that. In 2002, the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

introduced the "Heroes" stamp, featuring the flag-raising photo. Proceeds from the stamp have raised over ten million dollars to help families and rescue workers of 9/11. Also in 2002, an autographed original print signed by Franklin and the three firemen pictured in the photo sold for $89,625 at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

Auction House, with proceeds benefiting two 9/11 charities. The photo has also been instrumental in raising money for other charitable causes, including juvenile diabetes, autism, and cerebral palsy.

References

External links

Thomas Franklin Website
– Includes photo galleries of 9/11 and other events
Ground Zero Spirit
– Contains information about the 9/11 photo and memorabilia, and 9/11 charity relief fund {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Thomas E. 1966 births American photojournalists Living people State University of New York at Purchase alumni People from Ramsey, New Jersey Photographers from New Jersey 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers