Franklin’s coverage of the Sahel famine from 1984 to 1985 won him acclaim, but he is perhaps best known for his celebrated photograph of a man defying a tank in Tiananmen Square, China in 1989, which won him a World Press Photo Award. Since 1990, Franklin has completed over 20 assignments for National Geographic. His documentary photography has taken him to Central and South America, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Since 2004, he has focused on long-term projects concerned primarily with man and the environment.
In 2008, Franklin worked on landscape projects in Europe: Footprint: Europe’s Changing Landscape (published 2008), focusing on climate change, which was followed by a parallel commission and acquisition from the National Galleries of Scotland. Between 2009 and now, Franklin has completed a trilogy of projects on nature and memory, published by Hatje Cantz. Beginning in Norway, Narcissus (2013), the book and exhibition, was followed by Analogies (2019), and concluded with the book, Traces, published in 2023.
