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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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Wednesday
Sep012010

One image from breakfast, three from coffee break: the resolute couple; Metro portrait; Mahoney Ranch; hitch-hiking to the State Fair

DateWednesday, September 1, 2010 at 11:55AM

This morning, I was wise. I cooked oatmeal and ate it. But these images are from yesterday and yesterday I was foolish and did what I wanted - I got up, dressed, said good-bye to the cats and headed over to Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant for breakfast.

As I sipped coffee and waited for my ham and eggs, this couple left the restaurant and then walked by my window, resolute to the face the day.

Somehow, the day is a little easier to face after a breakfast at Family.

Sure, today I had oatmeal and that was the right thing to do, both in terms of my economy and health.

But how am I ever going to face this day?

At the usual time, 4:00 PM, as All Things Considered came on the radio, I headed to Metro Cafe for my afternoon coffee break. It had been awhile since I had shot a Through the Metro Window study, so I shot this one:

Through the Metro Window Study, #444: Carmen, Lily, Willow and Nola.

Again, I took the long way home, the route that goes by Grotto Iona and the Mahoney Ranch. Tim Mahoney was out pitching hay. I was going to shoot the picture in the usual way, from the car as I drove on by without stopping, but I suddenly decided to stop, get out of the car, shoot a couple of frames and chat a bit.

So that's what I did. Among the stories Tim told me about was how he had once been out near Council, when he looked up the embankment that rose over him and saw a big musk-ox standing above him and above the musk ox, a red falcon observing.

As I doubled back down Church towards home, I saw this young couple hitch-hiking. I used to pick up hitch-hikers all the time, but quit because too many bad things happened to others who did. But, somehow, I knew this couple would do me no harm, so I picked them up.

They had badly overslept but were up now, headed to the State Fair in Palmer. So I drove past the turn to my house, took them two-and-a-half more miles to the Parks Highway and dropped them off there, where there would much more traffic coming by than on Church Road.

I do have my Era Aviation ticket now and I fly north early tomorrow morning.

It could be awhile before I blog again, but I can't say for sure, so please check back, anyway.

 

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AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment6 Comments |
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Reader Comments (6)

well I'm glad i checked back today, for some reason this post didn't show up on my dashboard on blogger , anyway have a good trip !!

September 1, 2010 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

Have a nice trip!

September 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKathryn

I love your photo of the man out pitching hay. Thanks for posting it.

September 1, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterakbright

"Tim Mahoney Pitching Hay" is a gallery-worthy pic! have a safe trip!

September 2, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermocha.

My dad certainly hasn't gotten prettier by pitching hay!

September 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSparrow Mahoney

hope you are having a good time...miss your blog though :)

September 8, 2010 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

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