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
« Catching up with Kalib,* Part 2: He teases his grandma - who will eat the chocolate chip? | Main | Melanie's recipe for pumpkin chili »
Sunday
Nov082009

Catching up with Kalib,* Part 1: He opens the door for his grandma

DateSunday, November 8, 2009 at 10:00AM

On Lavina's birthday, Margie and I agreed to pick Kalib up from his daycare in Anchorage and bring him home. This would allow Jacob and Lavina to go out and celebrate, all night long. 

You all know that I love the pocket camera - because I can carry it in my pocket and it is just flat-out fun to use. But every now and then, I am overwhelmed by its limitations - and this is one such case.

When we stepped into Kalib's classroom, we discovered that it was nap-time. Every child in the room was fast asleep, including Kalib - and, boy, did he look precious! I had to photograph the moment, but, by the time I could get the pocket camera turned on and ready to shoot, he had discovered we were there. It was amazing to see how quickly he transformed from being fast asleep to standing on his feet.

He stepped briefly into his mother's arms, to get a quick hug.

Then, again, too fast for me to catch with the pocket camera, he dashed out into the hall and raced to the door, making certain that he reached it before his grandma did.

He wanted to open the doors for her, that's why. 

On the way to the car, he stopped to pick up a rock. Lavina said he does this every day that she picks him up. It is like a ritual.

The small keeper.

We buckled him in, then headed for home. Soon, he was again fast asleep.

 

*Although I have scheduled this to appear Sunday, November 8, I actually made this post on Thursday, November 5. There are two reasons for this: 1: whatever bug it is that has got me down has left me unable to concentrate to the degree that I must to do my work. 2: The project that I have been working on is very nearly done, but I have never brought such a project to a close without going full-bore at it, night and day, at the end, distracted by no other tasks, including this blog.

So, before I go to bed, I am going to put up several days worth of posts from photos that I have recently taken but have not used. Then, for the next several days, I will not blog, I will stay away from the internet as much as possible and just bear down on getting this job done - but my posts will keep coming.

I think Kalib with get at least three of those posts, two at the very least.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment3 Comments |
in , , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (3)

What a precious little guy - definitely a keeper!

Happy birthday to Lavina, and glad Grandpa's feeling well enough to work. :-)

November 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCynthiaC54

You got the cutest little Kalib! He is so smart for his age!

November 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSirraq Khan (Selma)

Cynthia - Thanks, Grandpa is well enough to work. He's just not accomplishing as much as he should. Keep plugging on that nove.

Selma - Thanks. Yes, he's a pretty bright guy.

November 9, 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.