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A blog by Bill Hess

Running Dog Publications

P.O. Box 872383 Wasilla, Alaska 99687

 

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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.

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Wednesday
Dec102008

It is most humorous to have a titanium humerus

DateWednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:22PM

I drove to town (Anchorage) today and I shot quite a few pictures with my new 5D, but when I went into the doctor's office I carried only my pocket camera. Right now, I have decided to ignore the 5D pictures in order to make this a strictly humerus post. Titanium humerus.

That thing in the x-ray is, indeed, my titanium humerus, the one that replaced my bone humerus after the fall that led me to pocket camera photography. It reaches from my shoulder socket nearly to my elbow.

It is expected to serve me for about 20 years and then, if I live that long, I must get it replaced with another.

How humorous is that?

My Doctor was pleased with this x-ray. I am doing very good, he says. Still some healing and mending to do, but now it is time to start strengthening my shoulder. So he gave me the rubber band you see here, plus a pulley, and as he demonstrated various exercises that I can do to strengthen it all, I could not resist the photo.

This Doctor, by the way, Dr. John Duddy, is a most excellent doctor and I am most fortunate to have fallen under his skilled and compassionate scalpel. Should any readers likewise injure yourselves, if you can, I would suggest that you skedaddle to Anchorage, Alaska, and let him fix you up.

Well, to be correct, the scalpel is not skilled and compassionate. Rather, it is the man who used that scalpel on me who possesses these attributes.

Thank you, Dr. Duddy!

And "thank you" falls very short of the gratitude I feel.

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment4 Comments |
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Reader Comments (4)

I'm very happy to see that you are well on the road to recovery.

December 11, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterShaela

Well, I just don't quite know what to say about this post. Other than you are too hilarious for words.

So how'd ya' get a photo of an x-ray?

A little blond mouse told me that I am getting a new SLR for my b-day next week and I'm so excited I almost pee'd my pants. I know absolutely nothing about photography so I will look to you to give me pointers my dear friend.

Is there a Dummies for digital photography out there? Hmmm, better check.

Hugs - Lindy

December 11, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLindy

Well, Doc hung the x-ray on a light box on the wall and then I took a picture of it.

Here's the best advice I can give you to begin with... shoot, shoot, shoot!

Don't worry about making mistakes, don't worry if every picture is good.

Just shoot and shoot and look at what you have done and then go shoot some more.

December 11, 2008 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

I am glad you were one of the lucky ones that survived under his knife...you can always look up how many malpractice suits he has and just ask any other patient how his bedside manner is...good luck to you....

July 22, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterrather not give a name

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