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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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Entries in eclipse (1)

Tuesday
Dec212010

For Soundarya, her sister Sujitha and her brother Ganesh: the eclipse that could not be seen from India, as observed from Wasilla, Alaska

DateTuesday, December 21, 2010 at 12:06PM

As it drew near to the time of the total eclipse of the moon that took place above us late last night and early this morning, I was wondering how I should deal with it on this blog, or if I should deal with it at all.

After all, millions of cameras all across North America and wherever else it could be viewed would be pointed at that eclipse and there would really be nothing that I could contribute to the mix. Among those cameras would be those of NASA, of other professional astronomers and of many amateur astronomers who would have just the right equipment to really tell the story.

As for me, I could not even find my tripod head. I would have to shoot hand-held, with a maximum telephoto of 400 mm - not that great for coming in close on the moon.

Then, as always, I thought of Sandy and I knew that if she still lived, I would go out and take some pictures of the eclipse, just because it would not be visible from India and I would want to share the experience with her as best I could.

I would tell her what it was like to go in and out of the house, never bothering to put on a jacket or hat or gloves or anything, because what did it matter if the temperature was -18 on her C scale. This was solstice, the time when the sun ceases its retreat to the south and turns once more to the north, to bring the light and warmth back to us.

It was right that there should be a bit of bite in the air, even if it wasn't all that cold, and that I should feel it without the protection of warm clothing. No danger - the house is right there, behind me, fire burning in the wood stove.

So that is what I would have done - I would have taken the pictures of the eclipse. I would have emailed them to her and I would have written about the experience.

I thought of her sister, Sujitha, and her brother Ganesh. They would not see the eclipse, either. Sure, they could find better pictures of it online than what I would take, but if I shot it, it would give them a direct connection.

So, Sandy, Suji and Gane:

This post is for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thought does strike me that perhaps Sandy had a better view of the eclipse than did all of us, even those at NASA. I don't know. Perhaps.

It is all a mystery to me.

 

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AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment19 Comments |
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