Never during my original 1985-1995 documentation of Iñupiat whale hunting did I experience a day in sun so hot on skin as May 5, 2015. Aaron Milligrock. Point Hope, Alaska – Tikigaq.

Bill Hess

Aġviq: Sacred Whale, Carrier of Life

 

May 5, 2015: Rays stream from sun onto ocean to strike hunters from all angles, cooking them out of their clothing layer by layer until finally they stand bare chested at the water’s edge. I remember a beach in Mexico – but this is Arctic Alaska, where Iñupiat hunters have ventured onto Chukchi Sea ice to seek the gift of aġvik – the bowhead whale. Since Time Immemorial, aġvik has given Iñupiat not only nutrition, but the foundation of a resourceful, resilient, culture and enabled them to thrive in one of the harshest environments on earth.

Multiple threats have followed the British explorers who sailed into their home in the early 19th century, followed by the Yankee whaling industry, which decimated the bowhead. Imported diseases decimated the Iñupiat.

Both survived and slowly began to replenish their populations. By 1977, the Iñupiat had adapted to incredible change. Money to buy imported goods, high-priced food included, had become vital. Yet bowhead remained central to diet and culture. Each spring, Iñupiat ventured onto Chukchi Sea ice and paddled their bearded seal-skin covered umiaks into the lead to meet bowheads migrating to summer waters in the Canadian Beaufort.

Come the open water season of late summer and early fall, hunters again met aġvik as bowheads migrated back through the Beaufort and Chukchi to their winter home in the Bering Sea. Through intimate observation, Iñupiat knew bowheads numbered many thousands, were increasing and so were shocked when the International Whaling Commission suddenly placed a moratorium on their hunt. IWC claimed the Western Arctic bowhead population numbered as few as 600.

Iñupiat joined other Alaska Inuit, organized the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and took their fight to an IWC convention in the UK. Greenpeace protesters waved “Save the Whales!” signs at them. AEWC secured a pitifully inadequate quota of 18 strikes to land 12 whales for ten Alaska whaling villages spread along a coastline longer than California’s. With financial support from the Utah-sized North Slope Borough, founded by Iñupiat in 1972 to tax oil company property and thus recapture a sliver of the Prudhoe Bay wealth Congress had just taken from them, AEWC launched what with support from the US and Canadian governments became the most intense, ongoing, scientific, peer-reviewed whale census ever conducted. Additional federal studies proved the deep Iñupiat nutritional and cultural need to hunt bowhead.

The most recent tally shows a best-estimate of 16,892 bowhead, growing by 3.7 percent a year. Alaska whaling villages currently hunt under a block quota of 306 landed bowhead, parceled out over six years. Future quotas will be based on future census numbers. Even Greenpeace now favors the Iñupiat right to hunt bowhead. Ailments of the modern world not withstanding, the hunt is strong.

Now the big threat is climate change, happening faster in the Arctic than anywhere else. The spring hunt in the Chukchi becomes ever dangerous as ice thins. The Beaufort late summer/early fall hunt also grows more dangerous. Huge reaches of open water allow violent storms to whip up waves that threaten hunters and shorelines alike. Polar bears have always been present to hunt and be hunted by Iñupiat, but hunted seals from plentiful icebergs and seldom bothered fall hunters.

Now, there are fall seasons when no icebergs can be seen. Polar bears need solid platforms to rest and den upon. They need to eat. They come to Cross and Barter Islands, where Iñupiat from the villages of Nuiqsut and Kaktovik hunt. Many bears now turn to the Iñupiat and the bowhead they land in their own quest to survive. Whalers must be continually wary, lest they fall to a nanuq.

From 1985 through 1995, I repeatedly returned to six whaling villages spread along the Arctic Slope from Point Hope in the west to Kaktovik near Canada to make my magazine, Uiñiq, funded by the North Slope Borough. This resulted in my book, Gift of the Whale (Sasquatch, 1999).I spent the next dozen years plus covering Native people and issues elsewhere across Alaska, but returned to the Slope enough to see the dramatic impacts climate change was bringing to the Iñupiat and their hunting way of life. I saw what looked to be pending offshore oil development – both opposed and supported within the Iñupiat community. For now, oil exploration has stopped in the Chukchi, although smaller scale, near-shore development continues in the Beaufort.

In May, 2008, I launched what I intended to be a comprehensive update but one month later fell, shattered my shoulder and got a new one. A variety of ailments and surgeries followed, but now I am at it again. Should health, life and funds permit, I hope to complete my update by the summer I turn 70 – four years from now.

Then I plan to go sit on a beach in Rio.

I joke!

I will stay here, in Alaska – most of the time.

 

Bio

When he was five, Bill Hess looked up into the ethereal shimmer of a rare display of northern lights in the Oregon night and felt a mysterious call to the north. The call persisted as his Mormon family migrated about in the land and mythology of the American West. Reality punctured myth during the two years he served on a mission to the Lakota and the five he spent as a one-man-band newspaperman and freelancer on his wife Margie’s White Mountain Apache Reservation. On July 14, 1981, his 31st birthday, he finally followed the call home to Alaska. No job awaited, no house for his family and he knew no one, yet his soul was soothed. He has dedicated his career since to learning about his home from those who know it best – the First Peoples of Alaska. He extends his thanks to them for allowing him to walk, eat and sleep upon their lands, waters and ice, for all they have so generously shared with and taught him.

Related Links

Bill Hess – Born Into Exile

Alaska Public

48 thoughts on “Bill Hess – Aġviq: Sacred Whale, Carrier of Life”

  1. Supurb work, Bill. Stunning images and the story about these people and the way they’re connected to this warming world is eye opening. You’ve had some other brushes with death while making this… Your dedication to their story and the welbeing of their people is commendable. I’m glad to see this here. Congrats!

  2. Really nice Bill. The guy with the drum (?) is particularly wonderful. Are there any major health issues showing up with people eating whale meat. Looking forward to getting home me and seeing this on a big screen.

  3. Hey Bill, you tell this story in wonderful pictures. Congratulations!
    I’m really enoying these pictures.
    The guy with the drum, is definitely one outstanding, and also the others “take me there”, which I think is very important.

  4. Bill/Frostfrog:

    Im am litterally looking and reading on my iphone on a hus
    In the middle of Taipei so not much to write now.

    Simply this: i will share later this piece with Camille Seaman
    And Gina. I want Camille to see it!!

    Magnificent, besutiful and important and does nit suffer
    From the usual cliches and western tropes when obseving
    Indigenous hunts. This is because of your awareness and committment
    And connection to this community

    I willvwrite more later yonight. Just so powerful and fabulous text too

    David: bill needs to neet folk who could do wonders efitorially
    For this project. Long form book with interviews and oral traditions snd interviews with
    The community

    Great to see this at Burn.

    Big congrats Bill

  5. Bill this is magnificent work! I’m particularly taken and interested in the challenges the Iñupiat have had first political and now with climate change. I’d like to know what they are doing now if there’s anything they’ve started in a fight to safeguard their sacred grounds from the ravages of climate change. Have they taken a new fight to congress about this? Do they have environmental and political groups putting pressure in Washington and elsewhere? Is there more you can do with these images now after BURN to make this known globally on a larger scale? I applaud your commitment and dedication to this work and all the years you have been visiting this very remote corner of the planet and your deep connection to the place and the people. How did the Iñupiat get the letter “ñ” on their name when that is a letter of the Spanish alphabet?

    There are several favorite images, certainly the face on the drum, also the captain’s face smoking and featuring his jacket with it’s message of the whale as a gift from God. The 4 sea lions (I think) in black and white, the standing white bear looking straight at the camera wanting food and with no ice or snow around him is pretty devastating, the guy harpooning the whale for his father, the old grandmother up in the air. Great work!!

  6. Jason. Yes. This last spring, an errant step sent me through the sikuliak (new ice) in the darkest part of one of the last nights to have a truly dark period and no one saw me go in and I did not want to call for help. I knew I had to, so I did. Three young men saved my life: Frank Nashookpuk, Guy Tuzroyluk and Ripley Nashookpuk Jr. I ruined two lenses and a Canon 5D but my Canon 1DX and my iPhone survived the dunk in salt water. Friends in Barrow launched to fund raisers, one a Go Fund Me, and more than covered replacement cost in one day. That’s the most recent.

    The spring before, the ice broke on us and in the strong current off the tip of Point Hope – Tikigaq – began to carry us off toward Russia at a startling pace. We had to cross what the whaler whose snow machine jumped on estimated as 50 yards of open water by “water skipping” on snow machine. If you click on the cover image and look at the little thumbs to the right, you will see an image from that event above “previous.”

    hharry, Often when bowheads are landed, especially in Barrow, biologists come and take tissues samples from various parts and toxology and other tests. Thankfully, the toxins have not reached dangerous levels in the Western Arctic bowhead population and what they tell me is that bowhead flesh is cleaner and safer and more healthy than store bought meats. There is another, much smaller, bowhead population in the Eastern Arctic off north east Canada that has become much more contaminated.

    Thank you Thomas, David and Bob. I am familiar with Camille’s beautiful and impressive work. I like your ideas, too.

  7. edite: Iñupiat have adapted to Roman alphabet to their own Iñupiaq language and have added lines, dots and tails to some letters for which there are no equivalent pronunciations in English. The ñ worked so they pulled it over and made it their own.

    Those are walrus. You did some exploring among the outtakes. :)

  8. I concur with Bob Black… magnificent.
    Bill, you clearly convey a closeness to this society that is evident in your powerful pictures.
    Not just anyone could go in there and do this.
    Thank goodness they pulled you out of the drink. Screw the lost camera and lenses.
    Maybe Canon will reimburse you. Hey Canon, are you listening?

  9. Bill, I have followed you and your work for several years, first on David’s Road Trips blog, then on Burn and more recently on Instagram. But this is the first time I have heard you tell in such depth the story of the Iñupiaq, their relationship to the bowhead, and the impact climate change is having on, not just the land & creatures in the Arctic, but the culture of these people. I already knew that you have gotten as close to this culture and its people as a non-Iñupiaq could possibly do. But what I see now is your role as a bridge between the first Nations peoples of Alaska and The world. This is a heavy responsibility and one that you carry with such dignity and respect that I am certain anyone who sees your photographs and reads your words will be changed. I know I am.

    Your photographs are masterful. Not only are they documents that tell the story, but they are works of art. I am in awe of your talent, dedication and capacity to work with no assignment, little income and serious health issues. You, my friend, are the Real Deal and I am grateful to know you and to learn from your life’s work.

  10. Bill,

    “Magnificent” seems to be the consensus term to describe what you have done, and I heartily concur. The photos themselves, alone, are as good or better than anything I have seen on BURN since its inception, but you have made it a true work of photojournalism in depth with the accompanying essay and relevant and detailed captioning. This is the whole package, done the way it should be. I know I will come back and look at these pictures again, many times. Congratulations to you for an inspiring job well done. And best wishes for your continuance of the project. With much respect and admiration… Sidney

  11. Congratulations Bill!

    Great work! Your commitment and passion shine through.
    Really wonderful and important work.
    Excellent photography.

    Wishing you all the very best with it.

  12. I concur with all the comments above.

    First and foremost, I think this is a genuinely important story for history. Bill captures a people, time and place that informs our past, present and future. Although other fine photographers may come in and do fine stories, Bill coming back to it again and again over many years and becoming a part of the community gives his work an otherwise unattainable depth that even the greatest practitioners of our craft can only touch upon in their much more abbreviated efforts.

    Secondly, the photography is top-notch, no question about that.

    Then, the text and captioning are professionally done and to the point.

    So Bill hit all the marks for great documentary photography. And paid great prices many times over. Job well done. So far. Very, very well done.

    My only suggestion would be to consider putting the focus of the text more on climate change. The strongest writing, imo, begins here:

    “…climate change, happening faster in the Arctic than anywhere else. The spring hunt in the Chukchi becomes ever dangerous as ice thins. The Beaufort late summer/early fall hunt also grows more dangerous. Huge reaches of open water allow violent storms to whip up waves that threaten hunters and shorelines alike.”

    Which makes me suspect you’ve buried the lede.

    But maybe not. Emphasizing the climate change aspect would likely help garner more attention for the work, but of course it would need to be done honestly, not as a gimmick just to garner more attention. Still, maybe something to consider?

  13. a civilian-mass audience

    My dreams are coming true…FROSTY…we love you… speechless…

    This is BURN and I am a happy civilian!!!

  14. Bill.
    It seems my suspicions were correct and that you are a man of deep integrity and compassion. The respect and love you show for your adopted family in Alaska ( and other places ), both in this essay, and in your previous blogs over the years is visible in every picture and word. This is a big story; in that it concerns The fight to maintain cultural and spiritual practices in a fast changing world.
    The issues are complex and the answers will not be found overnight,if they will be found at all. I suspect that many first peoples the world over will continue to have their traditions plowed under for The ‘greater Good’ and that a long rearward action will be fought against both climate change and globalisation. This is a sad probability that plays out every year but in this essay you with the great stoicism and dignity of these people as they continue to keep as many of their traditions intact as they can. That you do it with great professionalism and very little subjectivity is a testament to your approach and a great tribute to The Iñupiat peoples you depict here.

    Oh and The photos are okay too I guess :)

    John.

  15. Frostfrog…
    What a great and informative essay you’ve given us. There’s no doubt this is your story and it’s obvious how much you care and love these people and their fine land. I think the iñupiat are very lucky to have such a gifted and downright nice person giving a voice to their way of life.
    Cheers Paul

  16. Long term essays like this work so much better than the one shot pony essays of EPF Great stuff Bill it fills in a heap of holes in my knowledge about the far north

  17. Congrats Bill on finally giving us this work here! Its quite wonderful if I might add. Old school traditional photojournalism at its finest. The opener is stunning. The one bit of criticism would be that the b&w’s don’t quite work for me, as fine of shots as they are.

    All the best, CP

  18. Skiwaves – Thank you. Keeping my cameras in good working order has always been one of the most vexing parts about shooting in the Arctic. In that regards, the 1Dx is the best camera I have ever had, but it so expensive and so big, bulky and heavy to carry around. I like the 5D’s, but I when I shoot a lot, I go through them like crazy.

    Patricia – Thank you. For sure you are the real deal. This, and the online relationship we have maintained over the years gives your words that much more meaning to me.

    Sidney – Thank you. Sometimes, when I feel the effects of age, mishap and body wear and tear and think of hard I found the Arctic to work in when I was much younger and when I realize how much I like to hang around the house with my wife, cats, grandkids, bicycle and bow and arrow, I think I might be foolish to even try. Yet, when I am away from it the Arctic calls to me as strong as it ever has.

    Sam – Thank you. Even though we live and work in very different places, I’ve always felt a certain bond as I believe the same type of internal and external forces that led me here have led you.

    Mike – I will think about that. My intent was to stress the warming part right of by beginning with a description of the unusual heat of that day, but you may be right. Thank you.

    Civi – Your words always bring a touch of joy to me. I’m still waiting for the chance to come your way and to find just the right cat to bring with me. Thank you.

    John – You, more than any other single individual other than my wife, helped me keep the blog going for as long as I did. I want to start another, but I haven’t found the right format. I know its out there. I also haven’t figured out how to justify the time with income. Maybe there is no way. But I’m trying to figure it out.

    Paul – I’m glad you have enjoyed it. I feel that I am the lucky one in that my Iñupiat brothers and sisters have been willing to bring me along and take good care of me because I guarantee, without them I would have died out in their land and ocean a long time ago.

    Imants – I’m glad to read this from the artist that is you. Your words fill a little hole my heart. Thank you.

    Charles – About that opener. Like so many other followers of Burn, in the year 2013 I suddenly got excited about iPhone photography and Instagram. I took my phone into the field and tried to double-shoot everything, first with my Canons, then when I felt I had covered myself for the job, my phone. But then I had to put a 100 page plus project together for a client and discovered I couldn’t use some of my favorite shots because I had done them with my phone, I decided never to shoot it on the job again.

    On that particular day, I shot probably two dozen frames of this scene with a Canon but was so struck by it I wanted to post an Instagram. “He’s just standing there, looking out, not moving, so I can get it with my phone, too,” I thought. Of course, the moment I raised my phone was the moment when he turned his hands and wrists just so. I have kicked myself and kicked myself and kicked myself – and yet, maybe, somehow, if I had not turned to my phone I would have missed this moment altogether.

    I knew some would feel toward the black and white just as you do. But I wanted this spread to make a statement – that I photographed these places and this way of life from mid-80’s to the 90’s, all in black and white, when we knew climate change was slowly coming but didn’t quite believe it and still thought the elders were exaggerating a bit when they would tell us how much colder it had been when they were kids.

  19. I must point out that many of the compliments directed toward me above must go to David, Diego and Fran. They reigned me in and saved me from myself. There are a good many master photographers in this world, but I would challenge anyone to find even one who gives himself to other photographers the way David does. And, with all his mastery and notwithstanding the dark corners of this world he has sometimes entered, have you ever seen one photo of his that shows disrespect to the subject? And how many photographers, young and old, beseech him for pieces of his time? If their heart is in it, he can see it and he gives them a chance.

    Diego – he’s almost invisible back there, working quietly in the background. But he’s working. With his incredible ability to cast aside linear thinking and see pictures in sequences you might never think of, he makes you better than you are. Fran – working for love and experience, not money, far from home in Italy searching for her place in the big American city, center of world photography, filled with talent and so many dreams of her own – and yet she tends to your dreams, cheers and soothes you when you go blind and ornery.

    There is so much I want to say to and about David, Fran, and Diego but to do so is beyond me right now. There is a cat walking across my keyboard, meowing. He wants my attention.

    Hugs.

  20. Hi Bill you seem to have that same attitude that of the Magnum photographer John Vink ……….dedication and commitment to a cause and this is most admirable.

  21. FrostFrog – congratulations. Love the range and depth of this essay, also fascinating But, hey, no need to stop at 70, although the heat of Rio could be more appealing then…

  22. I’m late to the party Bill, but send my congratulations for your work shown here on Burn. I can only concur with the warm comments made here that show the high regard we all have for you.

    Wonderful photography, and a story that documents the lives of the Iñupiat while showing the effects of global warming: something that affects us all. A truly important body of work, thank you for it.

    Your recognition of help from David and the team at Burn does you credit.

    Imants, I agree with you. Twice!

    Mike.

  23. Imants – I appreciate that thought.

    Mitch – You are right except for one thing. The Arctic is a tough environment for an old man to work in. Lately, I have often found myself being the oldest person at whale camp. Not always, but sometimes. But even so, as long as I am capable of getting out there for at least awhile and there is a savvy Iñupiaq willing to take me along, I am sure I will want to go out for at least awhile, even after I leave 70 behind.

    Mike R – The party never ends. I appreciate your words. They mean a lot to me.

    Update – Nuiqsut’s EMN Crew, who you see above facing down a polar bear, drying a drum, spring boarding off driftwood and harpooning a bowhead, landed a bowhead on Cross Island Saturday. In fact, in a three-day time period late last week, Cross Island hunters landed their full quota of four bowhead. I have never known the fall hunt at Cross Island to end in August or to begin before August 31. Usually, the first whale is not landed until the first week in September and the hunt typically lasts into mid-September and sometimes later. The migration back to the Bering Sea is running early this year. Some believe this to be harbinger of an early, cold, winter ahead. I hope so, but can think of other possibilities and don’t know enough to speculate.

  24. a civilian-mass audience

    The party never ends… what not to love !!!

    Big hugs to my BURNIANS…and to our FROSTY’S family !!!
    Strength, respect and love to ALL !!!

  25. Frostfrog…

    It was a pleasant surprise to see the “Bill Hess” byline here on Burn with my morning coffee…

    Excellent work, visually beautiful and committed! WEll done.

    While the images work together to tell the story as a whole..it is the “closer” which i keep coming back to…I love the playfulness of this image. Underlying the hunt, the necessity for survival — it is the community and comradery that keep these traditions alive! You have captured that Bill.

    Best, Jeremy

  26. So sorry to be very late to the Bill Hess party…a family reunion and wedding at my home, simultaneous to a tropical storm which knocked out my internet kept me away from Burn….

    For sure this is powerful natural history work…and important…and as many have pointed out a long term commitment by Bill….i think Bill, the Burn team and i have been working on this story for about 3 years off and on….Bill of course on it for many years prior….stories like this are hard to come by….and in this day and age i think long term environmentally based stories like this are ever more important and necessary…

    for sure a book will come of this…..to be epic for sure…

    the only thing i think Bill could and should and most likely will work on more to make it a book will be poignant work in the villages …that is the everyday life of the Inupiat…..here we do not see the villages….it was not necessary nor even desirable for this essay, but for a book i feel up close and personal with the women and children of the villages to be integral to an all inclusive book about this isolated culture…..

    i love you Bill….i had no doubt of the popularity and power of this story…..

    david

  27. IMANTS

    so why didn’t, or why doesn’t, Bill Hess enter this essay into the EPF??

    we work hard every year to raise $15,000. to give to a deserving photographer….this is a no strings attached grant Imants..the ONLY no strings grant i think….that is the grantees do not owe us anything back in return..nor is there some corporation telling us what to do ..so i am always befuddled by your rant against the EPF …we provide the funding yet we cannot control who enters nor do we influence the jurors who represent as wide a demographic as one can imagine…go look…

    i agree the Bill Hess essay is deserving….yet i cannot enter it…only Bill can……

    cheers, david

  28. Thank you, David. It has been cold and rainy here but you brought a warm ray of sunshine into my day. Assuming I can find the funds, health and energy to carry on, I will indeed continue to build up what is actually a pretty extensive archive daily village life and will keep what I have learned from you in mind as I do so.

    As to that EPF question, I have surely thought about it but two things have prevented me from entering this work. One, as you so well know, while I have long known I need to do another book at some point, I have been very reluctant to let my color work of the last decade be exposed in national media. Your insistence, plus the rush of photographers and motion media into Alaska’s Arctic in the wake of the suspended Shell push to explore and develop the Chukchi offshore plus the climate change issue, finally convinced me it is time to start letting the larger world know what I am doing. At one whale landing this past spring, an event which in the past I would have been the only photojournalist present, there were 6 professional lenses in action – not counting the camera on the drone launched by a popular reality tv hunting show.

    Then, too, I always thought that if I did enter this work in EPF there was a chance I might win. Considering all the young photographers out there desperate for a break the thought just felt wrong. The Arctic is so expensive to operate in that it has indeed been one, long, often desperate financial struggle even when I have come upon funds that to a photographer in the Lower 48 or most of the rest world would have seemed bounteous. And yet, somehow, if not in the fashion I would have liked, I have managed to carry on. This day, for example, began with a feeling of absolute desperation but come mid-afternoon I learned a check I had almost given up on ever receiving will be cut tomorrow. I will then have about 6 weeks to find funding to continue in one way or another and am confident I can do it.

    I love you too, brother David, Burn Team. Thank you again for all you done for me, so often over my own resistance.

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  31. “Then, too, I always thought that if I did enter this work in EPF there was a chance I might win. Considering all the young photographers out there desperate for a break the thought just felt wrong”

    :) :) :)

    now THAT is why both is work and his life is filled with real meaning….

    David: agree totally…as i wrote (filled with illegible text as I was bouncing on a Taipei bus), this will be a magnificent book…and bill should fill it with oral traditions and interviews, like the work of Svetlana Alexeveich….and ABSOLUTELY needs to include the villages adn the women…

    i really see a gorgeous and important project here…..

    ok, much love to all

    b

  32. EPF I don’t think the quality has been there for the last couple of years. Maybe the rise of the likes of Instagram have diluted the waters.

  33. IMANTS

    as i said we at Burn have zero influence on who enters the EPF nor influence the jury…yet for my taste the quality is quite amazing….the new young photographers i think are rocking it….Diana Markosian, our EPF recipient last year has just joined Magnum, so i think others agree with me….i had nothing to do with Diana joining Magnum…i wasn’t even at the meeting in London this summer when it happened…have you watched the career of Davide Monteleone??or Chaskielburg?? Flying Imants flying..we have had 8 recipients of the EPF…go back and look at their names…you will see most of them moving way forward with their work and careers….

  34. There just is a heap of better stuff going on on different platforms photography is fast becoming a one trick pony. It issues tone of the players in a bigger game to view it in isolation is a disservice of its potential.

  35. Now… if someone were to establish the APF (Aging Photographers Fund) award I would surely enter this work… But of course David could enter too so that would eliminate the hopes of most of the rest of us.

  36. Imants…
    I don’t think it’s as bad as you make it out. I’m convinced photography/still images is surviving very happily. Everyone bores very quickly with videos unless it’s something particularly special. But anyway as long as we’ve got books there’s hope.

  37. All I stated is that stand slone photography no longer enjoys the autonomy as it did in the past. It’s role has evolved for the better in my opinionas it becomes intertwined eithin in our everyday communication and assumes a role akin language

  38. All I stated is that stand alone photography no longer enjoys the autonomy as it did in the past. It’s role has evolved for the better in my opinion as it becomes interwined within our everyday communication and assumes a role akin everyday oral language

  39. Bill,
    I have been waiting to see your images from the arctic here for a long time. Congratulations and deep respect for your amazing work!
    Your images are a joy to look at, although it is about people killing an animal. The picture of Malik and the whale from 1988 looks very familiar to me. My memory is a bit blurred, but I think I have seen this image before in a newspaper. Did you pass on your images to wire services? In your logbook I found your account and more images from this time. I only had a brief look and will read the entire story later. Truly great images and a very captivating and dramatic story. What an adventure!

    In the mid 90ies I spent quite some time with First Nation people on Vancouver Island and it was the time for catching salmon… for several weeks it was all about catching, cutting, smoking and eating salmon. Very archaic, raw and fundamental.

    My wife Andrea enjoyed looking at your images as well, she especially liked the picture of the man seen through a liver membrane. Do you sell us a print of this image? We would like to support your future work.

    You certainly have a priviledged inside view of the life in the arctic. Keep going! Good light and good luck for your future adventures!

    All the best from Reimar

  40. Thank you, Reimar. During the Great Gray Whale Rescue my UPI reporter friend from Anchorage came to Barrow, stayed with me in the Quonset hut I bunked in in those days, set up his wire and we sent a few pictures out every morning while it was still dark, including this one. Over the years, I have been very reluctant to sell prints from my whaling and Native work in general, although I made an exception with Malik and the gray whale – and in a very limited way a couple of others as well. Let me ponder this one a bit. I think it will be fine. I appreciate your desire to help.

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