SUNDAY BALLEW

Having lived seasonally in a Southeast Alaska town for some time, I was often intrigued by the qualities that seemed inherent to its people (both seasonal workers and locals). Many are playful, no-nonsense, resourceful, intelligent, open, alpha - alive.

I recall one late night sitting at a small, beer-can bar, transfixed, in a room filled almost predominantly with out-going and extroverted people, as I watched the energy of the room build to a feverish pitch. It was then that I realized there was something I felt compelled to discover about these individuals.

This project was the beginning of an investigation into what it was about Alaska that drew such people to it.

I spent a day with many of the people seen here, talking with and interviewing them about the reasoning or situations that brought them to Alaska. The day would end with each person guiding me to one of their favorite places, and I would take a portrait of them at that spot.

Some of the places I was taken to were as quaint, and local, as a person’s kitchen, and others were in places as remote as a glacial ice field.

In the end, I got to know my small-town friends a little more, and began my creative journey that became my Frontiers project.