2025 11 12
Lil Durkās childhood home. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
While driving around the south side after a photo assignment, my carās navigation alerted me I was passing Lil Durkās house. While I was previously engaged with documenting Chicagoās music scene in my younger days, I mostly got out of the scene during the rise of drill, so missed a lot of what Chicago is largely known for these days. Iām not very familiar with Durk, but a quick read of his wiki page is, if anything, fascinting:
On May 31, 2014, Durk's cousin OTF Nunu also known as Nuski was shot and killed.[101] Then, on March 27, 2015, Uchenna "OTF Chino Dolla" Agina, Durk's friend and manager, was also shot dead.[102] On November 6, 2020, Lil Durk's affiliate and fellow rapper King Von was fatally shot outside a nightclub in Atlanta.[103] On June 6, 2021, Durk's brother, Dontay "DThang" Banks Jr, was shot and killed outside of a Chicago nightclub.[104][105]
Chicago has a bad reputation for crime, guns, and murder. Of course these things happen here, but the city is so much bigger and broader than these headlines. That said, reading Durkās wiki page is a sad reminder of the paths so many of our children take after catching a wave of success through music. So many lives cut down too short. This isnāt something I aim to focus on with my photography, however, itās also impossible to fully avoid and is a subject worth much closer examination in hopes of finding ways to avoid these violent spirals in future generations.
Summarizing someoneās life through a single sentence on wikipedia does not do him justice, but today Durk sits in prison awaiting trial for murder-for-hire. They took away his key to the city. His childhood home sits, as it has for decades, visibly unaffected by the transcendent highs and brutal lows cast into this world by one child who grew up inside of its walls.
[check out the video below if you want more backstory]
-Clayton
2025 11 11
Hope (on the highway). Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās been a busy year and I havenāt been able to work on my Illinois Project much, annoyingly. Because of this, I now have a new project brewing in my head that is closer to home. For now, weāll call it The Chicago Project. As is the case with all of my photo projects, Iām not really sure, yet, what it is, but Iāve been really inspired by my travels around town and think I can bring an interesting perspective to a subject that has been documented and captured countless times over. Time will tell. For now, there is hope.
-Clayton
2025 11 10
Haley, dreaming of being a hobo. Chana, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Thereās so much beauty in these small Illinois towns weāve been exploring. Iām still not certain if itās mostly due to my lack of exposure to these sort of places, thus making them (ironically) new and exciting. I donāt think thatās it, though. The textures, the visible history, the grit and lack of attention. These are the things that keep me coming back.
-Clayton
2025 11 09
Sunrise (the best one Iāve seen!) over Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Recently I wrote about waking up early after being up late, and how as a freelance photographer you donāt really get sick days (see: 2025 10 15). This is the sunset I was treated to on that drive. The photos never do them justice and itās cringe to post photos of them on your blog.
-Clayton
2025 11 08
On the road. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
One thing I hate about driving is all of the moments I see and miss while manning the vehicle. This lil moment was cute and I was able to somewhat capture it, however, a tighter and higher angle on this scene wouldāve made for a more impactful image, I think, with the hard light from the sun lighting up his tattooed-arm and glistening off the action figure. If only there was a girl (possibly named Jessica) hanging out in the bed of the truck, weād have ourselves a Certified Banger image.
-Clayton
2025 11 07
Where will you go today? Tangible Books. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Recently, while not updating this here blog because Iāve been too busy, I had a modest uptick in traffic (instead of almost nobody visiting, a few people visited). While trying to figure out what all the traffic fuss was about, I noticed that in the last month, the blog has been visited by more visitors from China than here in the US. While I have no idea why this is the case, or if these are even actual humans coming to digitally visit, the fact was interesting to me for another reason altogether.
My takeaway was that, as a well-traveled but still life-long citizen of the USA, I donāt think I fully comprehend the shadow we cast on the rest of the world. I can imagine how differently I would feel about the world if I was the same person I currently am but was born in, say, Montevideo instead of Chicago. Being a very prideful person about the place I call home (I also love Montevideo and assume this would be the case if I was from there), I can imagine my pride would be met with much more frustration upon learning the harsh realities of economics, pop culture, and math if I was a Montevideoan (no idea what term they use but likely not this). With so much money, influence, and people coming from counties other than my own (hypothetical) home, Iād feel the need to accommodate other markets and cultures in order to get noticed, which would likely bum me out.
What is my point? Iām not sure, really, but I like the mental exercise resulting from looking at my traffic from China. The sort of obvious conclusion is that the United States is in decline access to markets is the most important element of gaining success through art ā be it sales to people or views on Tik Tok, you need other people.
To all this, I say: å¾é«å “认čÆä½ ļ¼
-Clayton
2025 11 06
Avedon book, bought used. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Argh! Iām still so behind on posts!
Mostly, itās because so much of my time lately has been dedicated to books. Photobooks. Our popup shop Realm Books is in the midst of a big year end push to see if we can become a legitinmate business. Itās fun, itās hard, itās a lot of learning and figuring things out. This weekend (November 14-16), we have our first book fair. You can find us tabling at Staple + Stitch, which is very exciting to me and will be really telling in terms of how the business end of things can work.
Anyway. This here blog has a zine dropping tomorrow with its namesake, so I need to get this thing back on track. Iāve got tons of personal work to share and this will be the place for it in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping byā¦
-Clayton
2025 11 05
A picture of my picture. December, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās been too long since I put out a new image in my The Camera You Have series. Mostly, Iām just distracted with a million other things. But of course, the demoralizing reality of nobody buying your prints is also a factor. I picked this image to include in the series largely because I suspected it would move some units, but then promptly sold zero copies. Then I gave up, altogether. Thatās a harsh take, of course, but itās true that the difficult reality of selling artwork has put a damper on my ambitions. With the holidays coming up, I need to dust off this project, turn my frown upside-down, and put out a new piece or two! I still get excited looking at the images and that, I think, is the most important thing.
You can view the entire series here, and maybe consider purchasing a limited edition print while youāre at it!
-Clayton
2025 11 04
That Tiny House. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
That Tiny House. You canāt not take a photo of it.
-Clayton
2025 11 03
Moon in the early night sky. Chicago, Illinois. November, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 11 02
Rural road in rural Illinois. November, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
This image was made a year ago during one of my Ill Wandering outings, in which I scour the part of Illinois that is not Chicago for images that inspire me. The series has been loosely in the works for a few years now, however, itās still largely a vague idea forming in my brain and I havenāt shared much of it publically. I bring all this up for a reason. [Preface: things take time] One major takeaway of mine has been that Iām still learning how to make artistic images. The end goal is not commercial photography (which Iām very trained in) or even photojournalism (which Iām also trained in), but images which provoke feeling more than anything. This specific image, I like, but it doesnāt do anything beyond being just okay. Itās a scrap pile image. A miss.
One other thing of note: this image was made just after a deer darted across the road. The deer was a bit too far down road any my reaction time a bit too slow, so heās lost in the shadows. I feel like this is a perfect analogy for my mental place in the medium while this image was made. Iām still sharpening my senses and improving my skills, even after pushing the button for two decades. Each style of photography requires a different approach; a different mentality. Weāll get there. Maybe.
-Clayton
2025 10 31
Shoes. Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Happy (nine days post) Halloween! Iām slowly (but maybe not surely) catching up on my daily posts!
-Clayton
2025 10 30
Famous thing in Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās kind of interesting that, being a Chicagoan all of my life, I almost never make images in the popular tourist places in my own town. This scene, had I stumbled upon it in another place I was less familiar with, would immediately become a photogrpahy obsession. Here, however, itās mostly something to avoid. Maybe I should better embrace these places? If I get into the āChicago Projectā I have brewing in my brain, it will definitely be worth revisiting.
-Clayton
2025 10 28
A very old bank. Old Shawneetown, Illinois. April, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
brb learning how to pay sales taxes for our photobook shop so the govna does not get mad at me.
-Clayton
2025 10 27
Reach for the light. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
My first photozine project is now at the printer and due out next week (November 15th at Staple + Stitch, to be precise). It has been a fun (and wildly time consuming for being relatively simple) project and I hope just the beginning of many more printed works. While I have many bigger concepts for more āproperā photobooks dancing in my head, Iām easing into this by committing myself to two more smaller-scale personal zines next year. In a sense, Iām riding with training wheels while I learn more about the processes involved, of which there are more than I previously had considered.
If you want to pre-order the zine and snag a free print as a thank you, you can do so here.
-Clayton
2025 10 26
Behind-the-scenes. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Time keeps on slipping past me this year! Iāve been meaning to get up another post about how Iāve fared with studio portraits this year (spoiler: poorly). Likley, because things got so tough, itās why Iāve been focusing on other things. That said, Iām still aiming to do both one more run of portraits this year and will get around to writing more about the difficulties when I find the time.
-Clayton
2025 10 25
Wires. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Everything is connected. Humans have been busy the past century connecting everyone together as best we can, in new ways we continue to imagine. While convenient, surely this might also explain some of the madness going around lately?
-Clayton
