The influential Magnum photographer Martine Franck (b. 1938) is one of the few women photojournalists to have achieved true international recognition. This book documents Franck's work through a chronologically presented sequence of 55 images, featuring her best-known projects, which focus on those living on the margins of society or in isolated communities, including Tibetan lamas, Gaelic-speaking Irish communities and the elderly.

Forming the most accessible introduction to Franck's work available, this book includes her early work documenting carnivals and street festivals in Provence and more recent projects photographing circus performers and dancers in Russia. Franck's work brings an aesthetic purity and feminine sensibility to the humanist Magnum philosophy, as seen in her sensitive portraits of the exuberance of childhood and in her compassionate images of her contemporaries from the art world, such as Paul Strand, Marc Chagall, and Balthus.

An introductory essay by Louise Baring assesses Franck's contribution to the history of photography and picture-by-picture commentary offers insight into the individual works.

Martine Franck (born 1938) is a Belgian photographer, and a member of the Magnum Photos agency.

From 1963 she worked at Time-Life in Paris. Martine Franck met Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1966 when she was photographing Paris fashion shows for the New York Times. They were married in 1970. She worked at the Vu photo agency in Paris from 1970 to 1971, and co-founded the Viva agency in 1972.

Franck is not only known for her contribution to the promotion of Cartier-Bresson, but as a photographer in her own right. She became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1983, and has worked for Vogue magazine. She has been the official photographer of the Théâtre du Soleil since 1964. Her other major photographic projects include documenting the ancient Gaelic community of Ireland, and the education system of the Tibetan Tulkus monks.

Franck was born in Antwerp; she now lives and works in Paris.