First Book Prize | Announcement of Third Biennial Winner

CDS > Awards > First Book Prize in Photography > Announcement of Third Biennial Winner

	First Book Prize Overview Guidelines Application Materials Frequently Asked Questions Biennial Winners: 2003 \| 2005 \| 2007 Announcement: Mary Ellen Mark to Judge 2008 Competition
	Robert Frank Selects Danny Wilcox Frazier to Win First Book Prize in Photography for His Black-and-White Images of Rural Iowa *[View images from Driftless: Photographs from Iowa]* Danny Wilcox Frazier, a freelance photographer who also teaches at the University of Iowa, has won the 2006 Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography. Robert Frank, one of America’s most important and influential photographers, judged the competition and chose Frazier for the prize because of his “passionate photographs without sentimentality. . . . his work reaches out: let me tell your story, it is important.” “Frazier's work will survive,” Frank wrote, “his book will be the foundation for more to come. . . .” Danny Wilcox Frazier will receive a grant of $3,000, publication of a book of photography, and inclusion in an exhibition of prizewinners. Frank will write a statement for the book, Driftless: Photographs from Iowa, which will be published in fall 2007 by Duke University Press in association with CDS Books of the Center for Documentary Studies. Frazier, who has a master’s degree from the University of Iowa, has received awards from the University of Missouri’s Pictures of the Year International, including their 2004 Community Awareness Award, for selections of his work from Iowa. He was also awarded a Stanley Fellowship in 2003. An image Frazier made at the University of Iowa on September 11, 2001, was part of the National Museum of American History’s show “September 11: Bearing Witness to History.” This collection of photographs of Midwestern rural culture will be his first book. “During winter in the Midwest, one can drive along endless gravel roads divided by windblown fields of black earth as dark as tar,” writes Frazier of the world he depicts in his arresting black-and-white photographs. “Snow drifts along fencerows, leaving the landscape a harsh contrast of black and white. But the feeling of openness that so defines the Midwest’s rural landscape is being replaced by one of emptiness. This work sheds light on people and places often ignored by mainstream media. As the economies of rural communities across America continue to fail, abandonment is becoming commonplace; these photographs document the human effect of this economic shift.” Frazier made these powerful photographs over a three-year period. “Ultimately, many rural communities across the Midwest will die,” he writes, and “in some ways the pictures I have made simply document the process.” Frazier has immersed himself in the collective experiences he photographs—in the lives of people who continue to find comfort among friends and family in small communities, and meaning and purpose in the enduring traditions and customs which mark the seasons. His interest in rural issues is rooted in his own life as he was raised in a small Iowa town that sits on the Mississippi River, not unlike the places he reveals through his images. Poetic and dark, but illuminated with flashes of insight, Frazier’s imagery has a brilliance of feeling. One turns away from his photographs feeling the heartbreak of our shared loss, for this is an America all of us are losing. Gallery How to Order *Driftless: Photographs from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier* Frazier’s work was selected from four hundred entries in the third First Book Prize competition. Offered every other year, the Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize competition is open to American photographers of any age who have never published a book-length work and who use their cameras for creative exploration, whether it be of places, people, or communities; of the natural or social world; of beauty at large or the lack of it; of objective or subjective realities. The prize honors work that is visually compelling, that bears witness, and that has integrity of purpose. American photographers who are pursuing work of creative or social importance have too few opportunities for support and recognition. This is especially true when photographers are engaged in personal or in-depth projects that do not have direct commercial appeal. While there are other sources for grants and fellowships in photography, the chance to see a body of work in print, as a coherent book-length work, is rare. Concerned about this problem and recognizing their shared interests, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and The Honickman Foundation, based in Philadelphia, came together to create this important book-publication prize. Renowned photographer Robert Adams, the prize’s inaugural judge, selected Kansas-based photographer Larry Schwarm to win the first prize competition for his series of color images capturing dramatic prairie fires that take place in his native state each spring. “Larry Schwarm’s photographs of fire on the prairie are so compelling that I cannot imagine any later photographer trying to do better,” wrote Adams. Schwarm’s book, On Fire, is in its second printing (Duke University Press/CDS Books). Maria Morris Hambourg, founding curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Photographs, chose Steven B. Smith to win the second biennial competition for his stunning black-and-white photographs of the surreal intersection of suburbia and desert in California, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. Smith’s The Weather and a Place to Live: Photographs of the Suburban West was chosen by Robert Pinsky as one of 2005’s highlights in Slate magazine’s The Year in Culture: “ . . . like true poetry, [the photographs] peel away my automatic responses, and invite me to look again.” The next First Book Prize in Photography competition will be held in 2008. The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University teaches, engages in, and presents documentary work grounded in collaborative partnerships and extended fieldwork that uses photography, film/video, audio, and narrative writing to capture and convey contemporary memory, life, and culture. CDS values documentary work that balances community goals with individual artistic expression. CDS promotes documentary work that cultivates progressive change by amplifying voices, advancing human dignity, engendering respect among individuals, breaking down barriers to understanding, and illuminating social injustices. CDS conducts its work for local, regional, national, and international audiences. The Honickman Foundation (THF) is dedicated to the support of projects that promote the arts, education, health, and social change. Embodied in this commitment is a fundamental belief in the power of the “family unit” and in the necessity of a strong community to support it. THF is dedicated to a variety of projects that strengthen and bolster both individuals and families. Though of disparate substance, what each project has in common is its creative potential. At the heart of the mission of The Honickman Foundation is the belief that creativity enriches contemporary society, because the arts are powerful tools for enlightenment, equity, and empowerment, and must be encouraged to effect social change as well as personal growth. To these ends The Honickman Foundation invests its time and resources. banner image: Allen Miller drags a young doe from the woods while hunting with family and friends near Kalona, Iowa, 2005. Allen, who is New Order Amish, has eight siblings; like other large families living in rural Iowa, the Millers use deer meat to offset food costs. From Driftless: Photographs from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier, winner of the third biennial Center for Documentary Studies / Honickman First Book Prize in Photography. top