Martine Franck has an international background; she was born in Antwerp, educated in England and the United States, and studied in Madrid and Paris. She was one of the founders of the agency, Viva, and is now a member of the Magnum agency. In 1970 she married Henri Cartier-Bresson. She wrote: 'Photography came as a substitute. I was painfully shy and found talking to people difficult; a camera in hand gave me a function, a reason to be somewhere, a witness but not an actor'. She has worked in places as diverse as France, Ireland, China, India and Japan.
Magnum is a photographic co-operative founded in 1947 that is perhaps the world’s best known picture agency, renowned for its documentary photography. Many important photographers have been members including Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold and Susan Meiselas.