The thriving Midwestern family farm is no longer, having been choked by industrialized agriculture and replanted with subdivisions. A shifting economy, combined with an old-fashioned lifestyle that doesn't translate from generation to generation, is forever altering the landscape.
Danny Wilcox Frazier was born and raised in Iowa. He loves the place and worries over its lost way of life, even as he knows what it feels like to be a young man and want to leave.
Carrying one camera and one lens, Frazier walks Iowa's gravel roads, gets his feet wet in the milking barn, pulls up a stool in the small-town bar. Through black-and-white photographs, he makes a record of his own emotions as he travels through the state. What results is a complex portrait of a well-loved American landscape at a time of enormous cultural change.
Credits
Special Thanks
Robert Frank, Alexa Dilworth, Iris Tillman Hill and Tom Rankin at The Center for Documentary Studies, as well as the staff of Duke University Press. Lynne and Harold Honickman and The Honickman Foundation. Yolanda Cuomo and James Magargee.
Marcel Saba and the staff of Redux Pictures. Photo assistant, Patrick Reed. MaryAnne Golon. My editors at TIME, Mother Jones and CR magazines.
My good friends and collaborators Taylor Gentry and Brian Storm.
And always, Lydia, Forrest and Tatum Cree.
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who allowed me a space in their lives during my work on this documentary and book. (A thank you to Iowa, a humble place that has taught me much...)
Support
Driftless: Photographs from Iowa published by Duke University Press and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. Winner of The Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography.
The University of Iowa
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Recognition
Emmy
Year: 2010
Place: Nominee
Category: New Approaches To News & Documentary Programming: Documentaries
Webby
Year: 2010
Place: Winner
Category: Best Editing/Online Film and Video
Pictures of the Year International
Year: 2010
Place: Second
Category: Documentary Project of the Year
NPPA's Best of Photojournalism
Year: 2010
Place: Third
Category: Documentary Video
Online Journalism Awards
Year: 2009
Place: Winner
Category: Online Video Journalism, Small Site
Fotoweek DC International
Year: 2009
Place: Award of Merit
Category: New Media, Documentary
Press
The Magazine: Video & Multimedia Storytelling
Dare Dreamer Magazine: Brian Storm – Founder of MediaStorm
Kari Kuukka: Where the Future is — and Where it is Not
MSNBC PhotoBlog: South Dakota's Badlands are rich in culture, rife with poverty
Columbia Journalism Review: Multimedia outlet meets production house
New York Times: Filmmakers Head to the Country, in Several Countries
Lauren Justice Photography: Driftless--from Mediastorm.com
documenting vancouver: The Future of Documentary Photography?
De Uitgeeffabriek: Brillant internet productions (Dutch - Translate)
SUNfiltered: Where photojournalism meets documentary filmmaking
Greg V Music: MediaStorm documentary series website, great site!
Fotografos y Fotografia: New toy, new dimensions (Spanish - Translate)
NYPH10: Brian Storm (MediaStorm): In Conversation
sbremer: Brian Storm of MediaStorm
Debbie O'Donnell Photography: A Powerful Narrative Utilizing Multimedia
Visura: Interview: Brian Storm (MediaStorm)
PIB: Interview with Danny Wilcox Frazier
Innovative Interactivity: Top 50 multimedia sites of 2009
Rand Douglas Photography: Danny Wilcox Frazier Documents Iowa
SportsShooter: Clicks of the Year: 2009 In Review
Quesabesde: This breaks the line between video and photography (Spanish - Translate)
APUG: Danny Wilcox Frazier - Small Town Bar
KickTime: Documenting Our Backyard
8rolek: Gmła ... (Polish - Translate)
Calibar: Armand Emamdjomeh of Mission Loc@l
Rastros de carmattos: The thousand and one stories MediaStorm (Spanish - Translate)
SubmarineChannel: Top 10 Web Documentaries
Ehrensenf: Documentary about life in Iowa (German - Translate)
MIAD - FA382: Great Shot: Frazier
TickleBooth: Driftless: Stories From Iowa
In Our Own Backyard: U.S. Poverty in the 21st Century
Eric Stoller's Blog: Iowa: whiteness romanticized
TH Online: We're not in Iowa anymore
Temple Talk: Lessons from the MediaStorm Methodology Workshop: Day 1
RB Design: Do 'Real' Photographers Still Shoot Film?
After Photography: Iowa on Our Mind
SubmarineChannel: Iowa Smalltown Blues
lavanguardia.es: The five videos of the week (Spanish - Translate)
Photo Traveler: Speedlinks 5/26/09
sacha phlog: bringing it all together
Toni Vilches Fotografia Blog: Driftless. Stories from Iowa a Mediastorm (Catalan - Translate)
Eric Maierson: Driftless Now Playing on MediaStorm
Duke University Press: Wired Praises Frazier Book and Documentary
Andre Deak: Random: MediaStorm Multimedia
DANIEL FUENTEALBA: MediaStorm » DRIFTLESS
Wired: Multimedia Done Right: 'Driftless' Blows Up the Format
Lars Dare Mountain: Newest (Swedish - Translate)
multimediamuse: Vanishing Point
Wire & Lights: MediaStorm - Driftless in Iowa
Espritblog: Multimedia: A question of respect (French - Translate)
Tufts Exposure: Driftless Stories from Iowa Documentary
Cussin': Driftless: Stories From Iowa
Fotograf Tomas Konigsson: Multijournalistik (Swedish - Translate)
words on photography: Driftless: Stories from Iowa
While Busy Making Other Plans...: Driftless
RapporteursPhoto: New on MédiaStorm (French - Translate)
death of a pig: Danny Wilcox Frazier's Driftless: Stories from Iowa, now playing on MediaStorm
dispatches: Is it a book or a video? Driftless: Stories From Iowa
Doug Menuez: INSPIRATION #4: DRIFTLESS
good problem: driftless: stories from iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier
KobreGuide: Driftless: Stories from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier
The Click: Driftless: Stories from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier
APhotoADay: Danny Wilcox Frazier's Driftless on Mediastorm
Lightstalkers: Danny Wilcox Frazier's Driftless: Stories from Iowa, now playing on MediaStorm