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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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Friday
Sep192008

To my surprise, I drive by a group of Obama enthusiasts in the midst of Wasilla

DateFriday, September 19, 2008 at 10:15PM

As Margie drove us through Wasilla towards home today after a trip to Anchorage, ahead of us I saw a substantial group of people waving political signs. I figured that it was undoubtedly Sarah Palin supporters, Wasillans who want to see their former Mayor in the White House. So I got my point and shoot ready, rolled down the window and prepared to snap a couple of frames as Margie drove by.

But they were not Palin supporters! They were Obama supporters! A long line of them.

Keep in mind that Margie did not slow down nor stop as she drove by, and I was shooting with a point and shoot camera that takes a good two seconds after one shot is taken before it can do another - when I am lucky it is that fast. Then you will get the idea that the line really was long - a long line, for Barack Obama, right here, in Wasilla, Alaska!

This guy was taking pictures of the Obama supporters. I have no idea who he is or what he might have been shooting for, but here a couple of observations: he appears to be shooting a Mamiya 7, a very serious and expensive medium format camera from the days of film, a camera unlikely to be wielded by anyone other than a very serious photographer.

Look how he is dressed - he is all bundled up in a way that no one else is. It looks like he thinks it is cold outside. This makes me think he comes from Outside, that he is a photographer from the Lower 48. Wasilla has been crawling with them, lately, and with reporters and videographers.

Of course, I could be wrong. He might live down the street from me and I don't even know it. 

I think this guy was at the end of the line. Now, don't you Palin people get upset with me and start calling me names. If it had been you holding signs as we drove by, I would have done the exact same thing as I did with these folks, this evening. I would have taken pictures of you and I would have posted them right here, right now, in this blog. And in my comments, I would have been very polite.

But tonight, it was the Obama folks turn.

Actually, I must correct myself - Margie turned right, here, at the light, so she did slow down to make this turn. Still, the line was long - 70 people long, I am now told in comments.

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Reader Comments (4)

Don't be too surprised! There are a lot of us Obama supporters here in the Valley! I was one of the group at the rally last night and we had about 70 people show up for the event.
You're right about the bundled-up photographer--he is from Outside. I think he may have been there with the writer from a NY publication, but don't quote me on that.

September 20, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterElizabeth

Thanks for the info, Elizabeth. There can be no doubt how Alaska will vote, but I admire you all for getting out and making the statement about what you believe in. Keep it up.

September 20, 2008 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

Thanks for the pictures! I would have attended myself but work got in the way. :-(

Keep it up Wasillans for Obama!

September 22, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterbaja

There will be more rallies for Obama in the next 42 days....please contact rachel.house@gmail.com for more information or stop by the campaign office on the corner of Fireweed and S Chugach St in Palmer.

September 22, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRachelHouse
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