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
« CM*D33: Margie returns to the scene of her injury; Rex and his sailboat, Willow the dog, Alaska Dispatch and potential young citizen journalist | Main | CM*D31: I go shadow biking, I get a strange look from a solid kid »
Thursday
Oct152009

CM*D32: Tiger Kalib and Tiger Caleb 

DateThursday, October 15, 2009 at 4:04AM

I know, the background is terribly distracting, cluttered. But when you step outside and are surprised to find your grandson being Tiger Kalib, you go with the background that you have, not the one you wish you had. Kalib places the ball.

Kalib pulls back the club for a swing.

Kalib swings! And misses!

He tries again. Boy, does he rap that ball!

Tiger Kalib and Tiger Caleb.

I hope this brings a smile to all you Kalib lovers down in Arizona. I know you can use one, right now.

 

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month (obviously, now, more than a month. Perhaps forever, it feels like).

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment5 Comments |
in , , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (5)

how bout if you get a big smile from someone in PA? great shots of your grandson, bill. i always love the distracting background artifacts like that bike that pulls the stroller. and the astroturf that kalib is standing on. helps put the reader right there!

October 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRuth Z Deming

Big smiles from Minnesota too!

October 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGrandma Nancy

Anotther smile from PA. I wonder if Tiger Woods was naughty in IHOP when he was two?

October 15, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

Aww, I love that lil guy. Teach em young :) Smooches from AZ!

October 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMikey

Anytime I can make someone in PA smile, I am glad. And Ruth, you made me smile when I found a postcard in my mail. Thank you!

Smiles back to Minnesota!

Two smiles from PA! Successful day for me!

Arizona - the land of a million golf courses. Thanks!

October 16, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Alert
Comment Moderation Enabled
Your comment will not appear until it has been cleared by a website editor.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.