Six years ago, a suicide bomber's attack on Paul Franklin's Canadian convoy in Afghanistan left him with one leg gone and the other destroyed.

On March 24, 2006, just two months after his initial injury and one month after his last surgery, the Halifax native walked with artificial legs for the first time.

On Saturday, a photographer from King City, Ont., won the Deputy Minister of National Defence award for photography for her stark image of Franklin sitting in a wheelchair.
Lisa Scale, who is the official photographer of the Tema Conter Memorial Trust, picked up the award in Ottawa.

"As the Trust's official photographer, we have been blessed by Lisa's skill and expertise in the photographic arts for many years," Vince Savoia, the Trust's executive director, said in a statement.

In 2009, Time magazine named Franklin, who co-founded the Northern Alberta Amputee Program, one of "Canada's heroes." And he was the subject of a book by Liane Faulder titled "The Long Walk Home."

The Tema Conter Memorial Trust was established to support to emergency services, correctional, and military personnel. Through research, education, training, and through the provision of peer and psychological support, it aims to help these men and women when they need it most.