Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Here is a long series of images that tell a story, or better stated, they show how one person tells a story. Richard Itta is about 72 years old now, and everyone in Barrow knows him well. His brother, a Whaling Captain, was Mayor of the North Slope Borough for several years until term limits forced him out.

But Richard knows more about visual communications than the average photographer! He has been totally deaf since age 5, so he does not "think" with pseudo speech the way we do, he thinks with visual symbols. He composes them the same as we compose the text in an article to post here, or the way we work with composition in a photograph. He can appreciate a photograph at a level that most of us only aspire to.

And he can put on some interesting visual skits. Usually they last less than 5 seconds. This one took 12 seconds. Perhaps because obviously when he started he fully expected it all to be photographed. It isn't candid, but it isn't staged either! Impromptu!

To actually see it in detail, with facial expressions, click on the download button, and then click on the image to explode it up to a size where you can see it.

Richard saying "Hello and how are ya!"

(Download)