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What’s in Your Bag? Danny Wilcox Frazier on Assignment
We asked to have a look inside some of VII photographers’ gear bags while on assignment. Here, Danny Wilcox Frazier takes us behind-the-scenes on his recent assignment for Smithsonian Magazine.
Danny writes: For my most recent commission, Smithsonian Magazine photo editor Donny Bajohr and I decided on black and white for a series of landscapes that would examine the Iowa countryside that painter Grant Wood drew his inspiration from. Wood’s American Gothic is one of the most recognizable paintings ever produced, the American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa, was the starting point of the series. Jane Smiley returned to Iowa to write the story, “In Search of the Real Grant Wood.”
Here’s what’s in my gear bag:
- Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) w/ 35mm f/1.4 ASPH
- Leica M-P (Typ 240) with 50mm f/2
- Leica Monochrom with 28mm f/2 ASPH
- Leica M6 TTL with 35mm f/2 ASPH
- Vivitar 285HV
- Off-camera cord
My Leica rangefinders allowed me to slow down and take in the contradicting beauty and tension I saw and felt while driving through eastern Iowa. The landscape of my home state still pulls me in, but when one looks closer, the demise of many rural communities throughout the…
