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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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Monday
Jan172011

Knocked down by bugs in the throat and computer

DateMonday, January 17, 2011 at 2:46PM

This is the very first frame that I shot yesterday. Five-hundred and sixty-three more would follow before the day ended, but so far this is the only one that I have pulled up and looked it, because last night and today has been such a mess that I decided just to grab the first picture that I shot, post it and be done with it.

The mess last night happened because a bug of some kind got into my throat and kept me coughing violently all through the night. I did not get to sleep until it was time to get up and then I did not get up.

Then, this program, Lightroom, that I like to use to edit pictures, even though it can be very buggy and exasperating itself, misfired and set off a chain reaction of computer calamities that have taken me two hours to resolve.

Anyway, this was how we began yesterday, at Family Restaurant, where Charlie took us all to breakfast.

I have lost too much time. I am exasperated. This is all that I am going to blog today.

 

Well, one more, grabbed at random, from India...

...just to leave no doubt...

Two boys at Badami.

 

View images as slides

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment9 Comments |
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Reader Comments (9)

Sorry to hear.

Secret weapon against nighttime coughing - Peppermint Altoids (don't choke). Don't know why but they kill the lay down after dark cough.

Feel better.

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterGA Peach

I hope you're feeling better soon!

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered Commentermocha

in every photo jobe seems to be focused on the camera. just an observation that he seems to be unusually focused for his age.

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterdahli22

I'm sorry Bill, I hope you are doing better and feeling better!!! Keep your head up =)

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterShoshana

Hope you feel better soon. Seems like this coughing flu is going around. We're still all coughing here a week after it's over. It just won't let go.
Chicken soup!! Feel better!!

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterMikey

Oh yuck on getting sick!
Hoping it leaves as fast as it came.
Take best of care...

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAlaska Pi

Ohh! What a coincidence! I am suffering from Cough for a week now and then last night when I thought I was fine..it started again!
Hope you feel better ASAP! :)
Jobe is just going to be a super model !! Look at the way he stares into the camera...or is it just his grandpa camera he is happy about??
Take Care..

January 17, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterSuji

hope today will be a better day

January 18, 2011 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

A technique I use to stop coughing is to grab & hold the web between your thumb & index finger. It won't cure your cough, but will stop you from coughing. Tested thoroughly on a variety of coughs & a variety of people. It's from a book on Accupressure.

My mother had a chronic dry cough for years & was unable to take the one medicine that worked for her because of an ulcer. My daughter-in-law found the book & cure. Try it - you'll like it. =)

Get well soon Bill & take it easy until you do. Priceless Jobe & of course Kalib even though not pictured today.

January 18, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterKat

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