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
« One more from the procession | Main | Bhanumati - Mother of the bride presents the wedding in miniature »
Tuesday
Jun022009

Bride Soundarya makes her entrance

DateTuesday, June 2, 2009 at 11:30PM

Bride Soundarya, wearing a special, traditional, saree, climbs the stairs toward the hall with Vasanthi at her side.

And look, there to the left: my own daughter, Melanie, looking so beautiful in her new saree.

Before entering the hall, Soundarya stops to pose for pictures. It is hot - searing hot. Steaming hot. Especially if only days before you were driving a snowmachine on the ice of the Arctic Ocean.

But even Bangalore people say it is hot. "It never used to be this hot," they say, "but they have been cutting down too many trees."

As she poses, little boys come running by. In the background, cooks sneak away from their job and come out to take a look at the beautiful bride. Remember, a click on the picture will bring up a larger copy and then you can see those cooks a little better.

After the pictures, she is again joined by Vasanthi as well as her younger sister, Sujitha. The two sisters are very close.

They step to the doorway that opens into the hall.

The bride and her entourage is about to enter.

Into the hall they come. The fans above are not working. They provide no relief from the heat.

Yet Sandy and her entourage all look cool and beautiful. They move forward, toward the stage where groom Anil awaits.

And then they walk right past the eager groom.

Sujitha glances at her own husband, Manu, as they continue on.

When I first met Sandy and Sujitha nearly two years ago, I was told by two different relatives that marriages would soon be arranged for each of them. "Whoever told you that told you wrong," Sandy later said to me in an online chat.

Both chose their husbands themselves.

The procession is complete. Soundarya will soon change into a different saree.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment4 Comments |
in , , , , , , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (4)

Both Sujitha & Sandy are captured well in the photos.

June 3, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterVidya

I, Dad & Mom enjoyed the blog! Thank you so much!

I'm still contemplating if it's 17days since I got married to my soulmate! Feels as if it was 10th May - yesterday!

June 3, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSandy

What a gorgeous bride!! She really looks like a princess.

Thanks for including a picture of some of the treats. I'm sure the cooks did a great job, I hope you restrained yourself from eating too much.

June 3, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMissSunshine

Thanks, Vidya. Wish you could have spent more time with us in Chennai.

Sandy - 17 days already? 18 now. Hard to believe. I'm glad the three of you have enjoyed.

Miss Sunshine - I overate every single day that I was in India.

June 3, 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.