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Thomas E. Franklin Sept. 11, behind the lens
On the evening of Sept. 11, Thomas E. Franklin, shaken from a day of photographing the World Trade Center attacks and trying to get back to New Jersey to finish his job, didn’t know he was carrying a piece of history in his digital camera.
For the veteran photographer, the photo that would become “Raising the Flag at Ground Zero” and get short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize was one of more than a thousand he took — all important, all capturing a snippet of time.
A photographer and videographer for the northern New Jersey newspaper The Record, Franklin was preparing for a meeting in his office in Hackensack, N.J., when a colleague told him about the first plane.
“I ran over to the window. I had a clear view across Jersey. I could see a huge gaping hole in the tower. I immediately took off for the city, but the tunnels and bridges were closed,” Franklin explained to POLITICO.
Having photographed the towers from New Jersey before, he headed to the riverfront in Jersey City. (Tanabe, POLITICO)