In October 2009, I was commissioned to travel to five Native Alaskan villages over a four-day period to make photographs of local artists and business owners. From Anchorage, I traveled to Kotzebue and then to Noatak, Kivalina, Noorvik, and Kiana. The job was difficult at times, and it felt a bit jarring; spending less than a day in some of the villages, I had to heighten my sense of seeing to capture both moments and images that conveyed a unique sense of place. Perhaps the most rewarding part of the experience was that I was able to witness the distinct similarities and differences between the villages, from the rough, open sea waters of Kivalina to the quiet river of Noatak, and see why each village chose their location based off of what the land had to offer.