Top
A blog by Bill Hess

Running Dog Publications

P.O. Box 872383 Wasilla, Alaska 99687

 

All photos and text © Bill Hess, unless otherwise noted 
All support is appreciated
Bill Hess's other sites
Search
Navigation
Wasilla

Wasilla is the place where I have lived for the past 29 years - sort of. The house in which my wife and I raised our family sits here, but I have made my rather odd career as a different sort of photojournalist by continually wandering off to other places to photograph people and gather information, which I have then put together in various publications that have served the Alaska Native Eskimo, Indian and Aleut communities.

Although I did not have a great of free time to devote to this rather strange community, named after a Tanaina Athabascan Indian chief who knew Wasilla in the way that I so impossibly long to, I have still documented it regularly over the past quarter-century plus. In the early days, my Wasilla photographs focused mostly upon my children and the events they participated in - baseball, football, figure skating, hockey, frog catching, fire cracker detonation, Fourth of July parade - that sort of thing. 

In 2002, I purchased my first digital camera and then, whenever I was home, I began to photograph Wasilla upon a daily basis, but not in a conventional way. These were grab shots - whatever caught my eye as I took my many long walks or drove through the town, shooting through the car window at people and scenes that appeared and disappeared before I could even focus and compose in the traditional photographic way.

Thus, the Wasilla portion of this blog will be devoted both to the images that I take as I wander about and those that I have taken in the past. Despite the odd, random, nature of the images, I believe they communicate something powerful about this town that I have never seen expressed anywhere else. 

Wasilla is a sprawling community that has been slapped down hodge-podge upon what was so recently wilderness of the most exquisite beauty. In its design, it is deliberately anti-zoned, anti-planned. In the building of Wasilla, the desire to make a buck has trumped aesthetics and all other considerations. This town, built in the midst of exquisite beauty, has largely become an unsightly, unattractive, mess of urban sprawl. Largely because of this, it often seems to me that Wasilla is a community with no sense of community, a town devoid of town soul.

Yet - Wasilla is my home and if I am lucky it will be until I grow old and die. Despite its horrific failings, it is still made of the stuff of any small city: people; moms and dads, grammas and grampas, teens, children, churches, bars, professionals, laborers, soldiers, missionaries, artists, athletes, geniuses, do-gooders, hoodlums, the wealthy, the homeless, the rational and logical, the slightly insane and the wholly insane - and, yes, as is now obvious to the whole world, politicians, too.

So perhaps, if one were to search hard enough, it might just be possible to find a sense of community here, and a town soul. So, using my skills as a photojournalist and a writer, I hope to do just that. If this place has a sense of community, I will find it. If there is a town soul to Wasilla, I will document it. I won't compete with the newspapers. Hell no! But as time and income allow, it will be fun to wander into the places where the folks described above gather, and then put what I find on this blog.

 

by 300...

Anywhere within a 300 mile radius of Wasilla. This encompasses perhaps the most wild, dramatic, gorgeous, beautiful section of land and sea to be found in any comparable space anywhere on Earth. I can never explore it all, but I will do the best that I can, and will here share what I find and experience with you.  

and then some...

Anywhere else in the world that I happen to get to, such as Point Lay, Alaska; Missoula, Montana; Serenki, Chukotka, Russia; or Bangalore, India. Perhaps even Lagos, Nigeria. I have both a desire and scheme to get me there. It is a long shot. We shall see if I succeed.

Blog archive
Blog arhive - page view
« Sarah Palin keeps popping up on the TV, dogs, cat, fourwheeler, boy, house, library at sunset | Main | Wasilla: Skating with a dead salmon; New York City: Painted and unpainted faces at Coney Island »
Tuesday
Nov112008

Driving home from Wal-Mart: Eagle and windsurfing ravens; As I walk, I meet a pup named Charlie

DateTuesday, November 11, 2008 at 9:04PM

As I took my walk this morning, I spotted two individuals on the road ahead of me. One was quite frisky.

Turns out his name is Charlie. Charlie took a shine to me.

Charlie.

I was driving home from Wal-Mart and the wind was blowing, hard. It was the kind of wind that warms things up, but still, if you stood in it, you would have thought it very cold. The ravens loved the wind. It blew straight into the false front of the building above, then turned toward the sky, creating a strong updraft for the birds to windsurf on.

Here come some ravens, making their way toward the updraft.

The ravens catch the updraft, and go windsurfing.

What fun they have! Ravens love to windsurf.

As I drive on, I spot a bald eagle in a tree, less than 100 yards from the windsurfing ravens. There is no traffic behind me. I stop, roll down my window, shoot my pocket camera, and then continue on.

Later, while walking again, a DHL van comes by. I have heard the bad news about DHL. I wonder if the driver is about to lose his job.

 

 

I drop Margie off at work at 5:00 PM this afternoon. It has begun to snow.

Melanie visits, and reads the paper. Royce was her birthday present, 14 or 15 years ago. Nobody can remember for certain. Now she lives with two other cats. Royce still lives here. They are always glad to see each other.




AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comments Off |
in , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (3)

What an adorable little charmer, that Charlie. Your photos capture his (seemingly) spirited personality so well. I love the one of his rich brown fur contrasted by the background of all white snow, and the one of him caught looking up at you, probably in the middle of some excitable puppy maneuvering.

And that little stick in his mouth, my pup used to love to chew on and rip apart sticks that same way. Even the "play with me" stance, the little hint of belly, so much of him reminds me of my late lab. Wish I could give Charlie a big pet and take him for a walk and paly session out in fieelds of snow, I lost my pup about a month ago and the playful expression on Charlie's face--and so much else you've captured of him in the pics--remind me so much of my beloved little one, now gone, and makes me miss him even more.

Thanks for the photos I absolutely adore them all, along with your captions and narrative, and will have some phtography related questions for you at some point, if you don't mind. Love the peek into Alaska and the marvelous photos. Hope you plan to keep up with blog, I can't wait for more--I've long been fascinated by AK and your blog is a great way to enjoy it vicariously.

November 13, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterm

Thank you for the comment, M. I'm glad Charlie gave you a boost. So sorry about your own pup. I know how bad it can hurt. I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

November 13, 2008 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

Thank you and I'll def. be visiting your blog on reg. basis. Hopefully someday visiting AK in real life too.

November 13, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterm
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.