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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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Sunday
Oct102010

At the Kaktovik Eskimo dance, a young woman took my camera away from me and shot back at me - two Facebook profile pictures

DateSunday, October 10, 2010 at 8:46PM

Some people may not believe this, but I am in fact a painfully shy person and the thought of getting up in front of a crowd to dance - any kind of dance - is terrifying to me. Yet, during the welcoming part of Eskimo dance held Friday night in Kaktovik to close out the Healthy Communities Summit, drum leader George Kaleak would call out different groups of people to come to the floor and dance - like those from each village: Wainwright, Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk... and so on.

Then I heard another drummer say to him, "photographers! photographers!" Now I was really terrified. There had been another photographer at the summit, but she had left earlier in the day. If George called out "photographers," I would have to do a solo.

But George was nice, and he used a more general term, but one that did include me. Still, I was trying to think of a way out of it, but I looked at the drummers and singers, where I saw Katheryn Aishanna, a graceful and accomplished dancer, look at me, smile and nod her head toward the floor.

I had no choice. I had to dance.

So I stepped onto the floor and began to dance in my awkward, clumsy way. As I danced, I held my camera in my right hand.

I had barely started when Ruby Rexford ran up to me and took my camera away.

Next thing I knew, Ruby was crouching on the floor, shooting pictures of me.

I glanced at her a couple of times as she worked and she reminded me of someone... who??? Who???

Hmmm... me! She reminded me of me!

Afterward, I looked at the pictures and saw that she had done an excellent job. She could be a photographer. Yes, she could.

"You must put it up on Facebook as your profile picture!" She laughed.

I promised her that I would.

So here is the frame that I chose. As soon as I post this, I will post it again as my profile pic.

And here is Ruby - in her own Facebook profile picture.

 

Now, I have broken all my own rules (I never cared much about rules, anyway) and I have a made a post that I didn't even take a single picture for. I did not even photograph Ruby's picture of me - which is what I am supposed to do when I put pictures in here taken by photographers other than myself.

I have just been too tired today to edit pictures, that's why.

Tired and lazy.

And with Ruby shooting for me, there was no need to.

Thank you, Ruby!

I needed a day off.

 

I should note that later, George called me out by name, along with some other people, so I danced again. This time, a young man from Point Hope by the name of Jeff Kuwanna took my camera and photographed me again. 

I was terrified, alright, but you know what?

I had fun.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment5 Comments |
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Reader Comments (5)

Lovely post, Bill! I'll remember it the next time I hesitate to go out and dance...

October 10, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHelen

you look great , Ruby did a super job and she is a beauty !!

October 11, 2010 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

You look natural! Good dancing, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself.

October 11, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCharles Brower

Nothing worse than getting shot.

October 11, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

Aaawwwwwww!!! Long time since I saw you in a pic Uncle Bill! Great Profile pic indeed! Cheers to you and Ruby :)

October 11, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSuji

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