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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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Friday
Apr292011

Looking back at Point Hope from across the ice

DateFriday, April 29, 2011 at 12:26PM

Here I am in Point Hope, out on the sea ice at the edge of the lead in which swim bowheads, belugas, seals, polar bears and other animals, looking back at the village. I came here to take some pictures at an event in town but it should surprise no one to discover that I wound up on the ice with the whalers, anyway.

That event is now over and I plan to go back out shortly. Three bowheads have been landed thus far here.

As for this blog, it is just too hard to keep out here right now - in part because I have not yet been able to replace my laptop screen and while ghosts and lines do move erriely across my screen, I am almost working blind and I cannot do a good picture edit.

When I type, the word vanish, fall on top of themselves, shift positions and I cannot be certain what I am typing.

Then, Squarespace, the blog host that I use to make this journal is, under perfect circumsstances, a clunky and troublesome program. Comgine it with a slow connection and its problems multiply and cascade one into another.

Because I am can not really see the pictures that I am working with and could not stand the thought of trying to picture edit, I grabbed this one at random. I was able to make out that it was sea ice and it appeared that i might be sharp - but beyond that, it just aggravates my eyes to look at it,

Then, sure enough, when I went to upload it, Squarespace malfunctioned. That malfunction led to cascading malfunctions and it took me.... 45 minutes... yes... 45 minutes... to upload this single photograph!

So I fear I will not be doing much blogging while I am here.

Okay - I can't deal with this anymore. This screen is driving me nuts.  I am going to post and hope for the best.

 

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment7 Comments |
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Reader Comments (7)

It looks so beautiful there. Store up your pics and do it when you get back. For now, get out there and take the shots, don't waste time!! lol
Can't wait to see them all...

April 29, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterMikey

Yup on what Mikey said!
Lots and lots of pictures!
We can wait .

April 29, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAlaska Pi

Whenever and however-your posts are welcome--(the ice is awesome)!!!

April 29, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAnn S.

The picture is sharp and looks sharp! Just shoot a lot and worry about posting later.

April 29, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterNaomi Schiff

The photo is striking. It's a very dramatic shot.

April 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterJust_a_Mote

well, it's a darn good photo, bill!!!

May 1, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterRuth Deming

Point Hope!!! Love it...

May 1, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterSuji

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