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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
Jun122011

Children at play in Tikigaq

DateSunday, June 12, 2011 at 11:25AM

Given the task that will keep me busy all through the day, deep into the night and possibly all of the night, I am again going to post just one picture - this study that I took in Point Hope on May 4: Two kids at play in the snow by snowmachine and sled.

As for today, June 12, in Wasilla, it has begun beautifully. Although there are clouds over the mountains to the north, the sun is shining, the temperature is in the mid-fifties and it feels wonderful outside.

It is just the kind of day that I do not want to be stuck indoors, but I am. The whole week will be like this, I fear, and most of the next too.

Even so, I took my morning walk and, come night, I will take an hour break, jump on my bike and go pedal somewhere.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment4 Comments |
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Reader Comments (4)

hi bill!

i thought you might be interested in this story about a whale. it's an audio segment that lasts about ten minutes and is so very moving. i wanted to share it w you. it starts at 4:12 and ends at 14:15:

http://www.radiolab.org/2010/jan/11/animal-blessings/

i hope all is well with you, dear!

katia

June 12, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterkatia

Hi Katia - Sorry to be so slow. I am supposed to be working on my massive deadline right now, but this has been a day of interruption from beginning to end so I said, "to hell with it, I will go listen to that story Katia sent me."

Excellent story - made me think a lot of 1988 when the gray whales got stuck in the ice.

And it also made think about what the Iñupiat say about how no hunter is smart enough and skilled enough to take a whale unless the whale recognizes thems as worthy and gives itself (although being smart and skilled are qualities the whale respects).

It was a beautiful story - one that inspired me.

I hope all is well with you, too.

Some day, I will get back to Seattle area and I hope to have coffee with you. Or maybe even lunch or dinner - and maybe even meet some of those young people you depict so exceptionally in your work.

June 14, 2011 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

yes, i recalled this whale story to mind after seeing your Lens piece and some images of killed whales. it made me very sad. they are such majestic, intelligent creatures.
anyway, thanks for listening to it.
btw, i had 18 cats in upstate, ny.
they would follow me to the corner store two blocks away and wait on the stoop for me.
i miss them madly but now i have two, which is much more manageable.
all that to say, i love cats too. :))

be well!

June 15, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterkatia

Katia - I hate to blatantly push my own work, but you should read Gift of the Whale, cover to cover. It is an amazing thing to see how much joy a whale can bring to the Iñupiat community - in addition to life and sustenance. And there is also a whale rescue story in it - and a cat, as well.

You are right - two cats are much more manageable than 18. I have a neighbor who hates cats. If I were to grow rich, I would make him an offer he couldn't refuse, buy his house and property and turn the whole thing into a cat rescue sanctuary. Then I would have a whole lot of cats to manage.

June 15, 2011 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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