Photojournalist Franklin Shares 9/11 Experience With Warsaw Students
November 11, 2017 at 5:39 a.m.
By David [email protected]
Friday, he spoke to Warsaw Community High School students in the morning and Warsaw Community Schools fifth-graders in the afternoon about his career, 9/11 and how that famous photo came about. His presentations were part of the school corporation’s Veterans Day programs and made possible by 1st Source Bank and the Esther Pfleiderer Charitable Trust.
Franklin teaches at Montclair State University in New Jersey now, but before taking the job as a professor he was a newspaper photographer at The Bergen Record for close to 25 years. With the expansion of the internet, he moved to the internet division of the newspaper and produced news videos for it.
He said he considers himself a photojournalist. “I’m really talking about visual storytelling,” he said. “Using images – whether they’re moving images like video or still images like photographs – to tell stories. Sometimes in conjunction with using words, sometimes it’s in the form of video, but it’s nonfiction photography.”
While showing some of his photographs on a big overhead screen – like one of his photos of Presidents Bush and Obama and their wives at a memorial for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 – Franklin said his job can involve big news events, world events, natural events, breaking news or politics. He also has covered lots of sports.
“I like sports, too. I’ve come to like it a little bit less covering it because it’s really difficult and it involves a lot of skill and know-how and a lot of physical strength as well because it’s very physical when you’re out there running,” he said as his photo of Eli Manning after the Giants won the Super Bowl shot up on the screen.
Franklin told the fifth-graders, “As someone who works in the media covering sports, you can’t be a fan. You can’t be a fan because it’s your job to document and record what’s going on, not to cheer on the team. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a favorite team, and the Giants are my favorite team.”
In explaining how he ended up in photojournalism, he said it was partly because he was exposed to the career field while working in a dark room at a newspaper during college.
He also was inspired by a magazine photo titled “Omyra” by Frank Fournier that appeared in the newspaper. It shows a young girl trapped in water and debris from a mudslide after an earthquake in Central America. The photo is of the final moments of the girl’s life.
“I remember looking at this picture and being completely, completely in amazement at looking at the picture. At the moment of seeing the picture, I wanted to know why wasn’t anyone helping her, where was her family, how did she come to be there, is she going to live or is she going to die, why is it here in my newspaper? Those kind of questions really interested me. I had a very strong sense of curiosity,” he said, adding that “Omyra” really began his education and awareness at being a digital storyteller.
He also said being a photojournalist is about hard work and a willingness to put the time in to get good results.
After playing a short video of his photos, including those from 9/11, Franklin said, “Sept. 11, for people who live in my part of the country – New York, New Jersey – this was a really, really big event. It was the biggest news event in our lives.”
As a journalist, he said it’s very difficult sometimes to have to make pictures of difficult subject matter like 9/11.
“So, for me, the challenge was largely about how to deal both with what I was seeing and the emotions with it, and also being able to do my job,” Franklin said.
The way he dealt with the challenge was focusing and recognizing what was most important at that moment, what he had control over – making pictures that were historical documents not only for the next day’s newspapers but also textbooks and other publications.
“I felt a very strong need to do my job and do the best I could,” he continued.
“Sept. 11 is a story and an event in our part of the country that is really a very much a part of everyday life, even all these years later,” he said.
To best explain what he did on 9/11 and the photos he took, including “Raising the Flag at Ground Zero,” Franklin showed the students another video of his Sept. 11 photos with his own recorded voiceover.
“For many, the image has become a symbol of that tragic day. For me, it was just something that happened. A moment to which I was a witness. I shot it the best I could and moved on,” his narration begins as it recounts the day, moment by moment.
As it got late, he had just a few frames left on his camera after shooting a whole day’s worth of pictures.
“Before I left, I decided to take one last look, so I walked back toward the Ground Zero area. That’s when I saw the firemen with a flag and a flag pole wedged at an odd angle atop a pile of rubble about 15 feet high. I waited, still unsure of what was happening.”
The firemen then hoisted the flag to the top of the pole. Franklin was about 30 yards away and shot a burst of frames as the flag went up. The firemen then descended the pile of rubble and walked away.
“I don’t think the firemen had any idea the spontaneous act of patriotism was being photographed,” his video narration says.
Franklin’s first return to Ground Zero was covering the first anniversary. He said shooting photos then through tears was far more difficult than 9/11 because the emotion was so “raw and vast.”
After the video, he asked the fifth-graders why they thought his flag-raising photo was so important and meaningful. The students told him it represented America, how America should stay strong no matter what happens, shows patriotism and support for the people who lost their lives.
“I think it’s largely about the symbolism of the flag in the wake of this really horrible event where thousands of people died,” Franklin commented. “I also think it’s the fact that on that day ... there’s some really violent images from that day and this is a picture that’s not about that.”
The photo would go on to be selected to be on the U.S. postage stamp, and President Bush selected the image to be on the Hero stamp, with over $10 million from the stamp sales going to charity to help people affected by 9/11.
After the presentation, Franklin responded to a few questions, the first being how people outside of New York and New Jersey respond and think about 9/11 some 16 years later.
“In general, no matter where you are, it’s now become part of the history and it’s no longer in the present tense. For us in the New York, New Jersey area, 9/11 was a current story for many years because the building wasn’t being built, remains were being found all the time, the hurt of the loss – it lasted years,” he said.
“I thought the 10th anniversary was a period of where we’re now moving past it a little bit. And then when the new tower opened up, that was a big change. But (for) people in New York, New Jersey, it’ll never go away. It’s part of the everyday conversation every day. But I think we’re starting to move past it a little bit.
“And, unfortunately, and I didn’t say this in the presentation, but it’s what I really believe, is that there are so many horrific events every day, that 9/11 has just become another horrific day in our history and I think that’s played a factor in how people aren’t that cognizant of it anymore.”
If an event like 9/11 happened today, he said, “Could you imagine, with the advent of social media, what that day would have been like if all the people in those buildings, trying to get out, tweeting and sending photos and my God the text to their loved ones ... the texts from the airplane? ... It was a day that was reported and recorded very well in terms of photography and all types of reporting, but it was before social media really became part of our lives and it would be enormously different today.”
Friday, he spoke to Warsaw Community High School students in the morning and Warsaw Community Schools fifth-graders in the afternoon about his career, 9/11 and how that famous photo came about. His presentations were part of the school corporation’s Veterans Day programs and made possible by 1st Source Bank and the Esther Pfleiderer Charitable Trust.
Franklin teaches at Montclair State University in New Jersey now, but before taking the job as a professor he was a newspaper photographer at The Bergen Record for close to 25 years. With the expansion of the internet, he moved to the internet division of the newspaper and produced news videos for it.
He said he considers himself a photojournalist. “I’m really talking about visual storytelling,” he said. “Using images – whether they’re moving images like video or still images like photographs – to tell stories. Sometimes in conjunction with using words, sometimes it’s in the form of video, but it’s nonfiction photography.”
While showing some of his photographs on a big overhead screen – like one of his photos of Presidents Bush and Obama and their wives at a memorial for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 – Franklin said his job can involve big news events, world events, natural events, breaking news or politics. He also has covered lots of sports.
“I like sports, too. I’ve come to like it a little bit less covering it because it’s really difficult and it involves a lot of skill and know-how and a lot of physical strength as well because it’s very physical when you’re out there running,” he said as his photo of Eli Manning after the Giants won the Super Bowl shot up on the screen.
Franklin told the fifth-graders, “As someone who works in the media covering sports, you can’t be a fan. You can’t be a fan because it’s your job to document and record what’s going on, not to cheer on the team. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a favorite team, and the Giants are my favorite team.”
In explaining how he ended up in photojournalism, he said it was partly because he was exposed to the career field while working in a dark room at a newspaper during college.
He also was inspired by a magazine photo titled “Omyra” by Frank Fournier that appeared in the newspaper. It shows a young girl trapped in water and debris from a mudslide after an earthquake in Central America. The photo is of the final moments of the girl’s life.
“I remember looking at this picture and being completely, completely in amazement at looking at the picture. At the moment of seeing the picture, I wanted to know why wasn’t anyone helping her, where was her family, how did she come to be there, is she going to live or is she going to die, why is it here in my newspaper? Those kind of questions really interested me. I had a very strong sense of curiosity,” he said, adding that “Omyra” really began his education and awareness at being a digital storyteller.
He also said being a photojournalist is about hard work and a willingness to put the time in to get good results.
After playing a short video of his photos, including those from 9/11, Franklin said, “Sept. 11, for people who live in my part of the country – New York, New Jersey – this was a really, really big event. It was the biggest news event in our lives.”
As a journalist, he said it’s very difficult sometimes to have to make pictures of difficult subject matter like 9/11.
“So, for me, the challenge was largely about how to deal both with what I was seeing and the emotions with it, and also being able to do my job,” Franklin said.
The way he dealt with the challenge was focusing and recognizing what was most important at that moment, what he had control over – making pictures that were historical documents not only for the next day’s newspapers but also textbooks and other publications.
“I felt a very strong need to do my job and do the best I could,” he continued.
“Sept. 11 is a story and an event in our part of the country that is really a very much a part of everyday life, even all these years later,” he said.
To best explain what he did on 9/11 and the photos he took, including “Raising the Flag at Ground Zero,” Franklin showed the students another video of his Sept. 11 photos with his own recorded voiceover.
“For many, the image has become a symbol of that tragic day. For me, it was just something that happened. A moment to which I was a witness. I shot it the best I could and moved on,” his narration begins as it recounts the day, moment by moment.
As it got late, he had just a few frames left on his camera after shooting a whole day’s worth of pictures.
“Before I left, I decided to take one last look, so I walked back toward the Ground Zero area. That’s when I saw the firemen with a flag and a flag pole wedged at an odd angle atop a pile of rubble about 15 feet high. I waited, still unsure of what was happening.”
The firemen then hoisted the flag to the top of the pole. Franklin was about 30 yards away and shot a burst of frames as the flag went up. The firemen then descended the pile of rubble and walked away.
“I don’t think the firemen had any idea the spontaneous act of patriotism was being photographed,” his video narration says.
Franklin’s first return to Ground Zero was covering the first anniversary. He said shooting photos then through tears was far more difficult than 9/11 because the emotion was so “raw and vast.”
After the video, he asked the fifth-graders why they thought his flag-raising photo was so important and meaningful. The students told him it represented America, how America should stay strong no matter what happens, shows patriotism and support for the people who lost their lives.
“I think it’s largely about the symbolism of the flag in the wake of this really horrible event where thousands of people died,” Franklin commented. “I also think it’s the fact that on that day ... there’s some really violent images from that day and this is a picture that’s not about that.”
The photo would go on to be selected to be on the U.S. postage stamp, and President Bush selected the image to be on the Hero stamp, with over $10 million from the stamp sales going to charity to help people affected by 9/11.
After the presentation, Franklin responded to a few questions, the first being how people outside of New York and New Jersey respond and think about 9/11 some 16 years later.
“In general, no matter where you are, it’s now become part of the history and it’s no longer in the present tense. For us in the New York, New Jersey area, 9/11 was a current story for many years because the building wasn’t being built, remains were being found all the time, the hurt of the loss – it lasted years,” he said.
“I thought the 10th anniversary was a period of where we’re now moving past it a little bit. And then when the new tower opened up, that was a big change. But (for) people in New York, New Jersey, it’ll never go away. It’s part of the everyday conversation every day. But I think we’re starting to move past it a little bit.
“And, unfortunately, and I didn’t say this in the presentation, but it’s what I really believe, is that there are so many horrific events every day, that 9/11 has just become another horrific day in our history and I think that’s played a factor in how people aren’t that cognizant of it anymore.”
If an event like 9/11 happened today, he said, “Could you imagine, with the advent of social media, what that day would have been like if all the people in those buildings, trying to get out, tweeting and sending photos and my God the text to their loved ones ... the texts from the airplane? ... It was a day that was reported and recorded very well in terms of photography and all types of reporting, but it was before social media really became part of our lives and it would be enormously different today.”
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