2024 12 23
While at a holiday party a few nights back, the subject of Ai came up and sent me off into a dark headspace. My animator/editor friend had just seen some new examples of Googleās Ai video capabilities and it sent her spiraling into doom, declaring her job was now dead and gone. Sadly, I largely agree with her, tho of course itās more complicated and wonāt happen overnight. Iāve been largely ignoring (avoiding) checking in on Ai advancements over the last six months because I know it will only bum me out, and Iāve been too busy anyway, thus had been feeling more optimistic about the state of our creative industry. That moment at the party was like pouring cold water over my head.
This morning, I awoke to a post showcasing a fully-Ai-generated short film (see below). All of the sound, music and editing was done by a human but the visuals are fairly impressive, considering they were made by typing commands into a computer (Iād love to know how much time he spent repeating commands over and over before throwing his computer out the window). Surely, this will only get much better in the coming months. That said, Iām still not fully convinced Ai will ever become so good that it replaces all human-made visuals. Art is in the choices, and outsourcing a majority of your decisions to a computer will dilute your art and/or take lots of time to perfect, thus minimizing the advantage it provides in the first place. Also, while impressive for what it is, the film is kind of shit.
The sun setting on my photographic career. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
While at a holiday party a few nights back, the subject of Ai came up and sent me off into a dark headspace. My animator/editor friend had just seen some new examples of Googleās Ai video capabilities and it sent her spiraling into doom, declaring her job was now dead and gone. Sadly, I largely agree with her, tho of course itās more complicated and wonāt happen overnight. Iāve been largely ignoring (avoiding) checking in on Ai advancements over the last six months because I know it will only bum me out, and Iāve been too busy anyway, thus had been feeling more optimistic about the state of our creative industry. That moment at the party was like pouring cold water over my head.
This morning, I awoke to a post showcasing a fully-Ai-generated short film (see below). All of the sound, music and editing was done by a human but the visuals are fairly impressive, considering they were made by typing commands into a computer (Iād love to know how much time he spent repeating commands over and over before throwing his computer out the window). Surely, this will only get much better in the coming months. That said, Iām still not fully convinced Ai will ever become so good that it replaces all human-made visuals. Art is in the choices, and outsourcing a majority of your decisions to a computer will dilute your art and/or take lots of time to perfect, thus minimizing the advantage it provides in the first place. Also, while impressive for what it is, the film is kind of shit.
Last week, I hosted a Filmmaker Fridays event at my studio and the topic was film festivals. Two panelists were invited to talk about their roles in choosing which films are accepted to the festivals they work for. My broad takeaway from the event was that there is such a robust and enthusiastic demand for filmmaking generally, that I canāt even imagine a world in which the art form is completely outsourced to automation, regardless of how profitable it may become to do so (Iām not convinced this will be the case, either!). That said, Ai will surely transform the industry in ways comparable or even greater than the recent mega-change from film to digital. That change ushered in an explosion of new participants (myself included) and content is now so plentiful itās impossible to watch even a small percentage of what is made annually. Sundance supposedly sees fourteen-thousand submissions each year, of which they likely donāt even view many of the entrantsā films because thereās just not enough time to do so.
At the event, I ran into the younger brother of a friend who I hadnāt seen in over a decade. He mentioned that he wrapped a feature horror film which he made for $3,000 and premiered to a sold-out audience at The Music Box. Check out the trailer below. Itās laughable how much better it is when compared to the Ai-made video above.
None of us have any clue whatās next. Nuclear war or impending alien invasion may soon make all of this a moot subject. While I will surely still go through periods of depression about how my job is about to be replaced by robots, Iām choosing to largely disregard these dark proclamations and barrel ahead with a positive mental attitude and the understanding that things will change, perhaps quite dramatically, but the world has a need to remain more or less in balance in order for anything to get accomplished.
-Clayton
2024 11 06
Here we go again. Hold on to your butts. Last night was a gut punch for many of us, but here we are. Lots of people will have lots to say, with hindsight on their side, but I think my biggest takeaway is that we donāt have an effective opposition to Trump populism. The Democratic party is run by a largely-senile president who was pushed out of office against his own wishes and was nowhere to be seen throughout the election; along with a former president who is nowhere to be seen until itās time to campaign for a few weeks leading up to the vote; along with a former Speaker who, while smart, is an 84-year old millionaire none of us can relate to or connect with. This isnāt the kind of leadership that wins elections and unless something changes, it will continue to happen over and over again.
Kamala was not a perfect candidate, but she ran a pretty dang good campaign, all things considered. Sure, she couldāve done many things differently, but I donāt think it wouldāve changed the outcome one bit. It was an impossible task and now we live in a world where the only two female presidential candidates in our countriesā history have both been defeated by Donald Trump. It stings, bad. Itās a grim reality, but it is our reality and if we want it to change, weāll need to stay engaged, stay focused, and stick together.
-Clayton
Today, we stare into the void. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Here we go again. Hold on to your butts. Last night was a gut punch for many of us, but here we are. Lots of people will have lots to say, with hindsight on their side, but I think my biggest takeaway is that we donāt have an effective opposition to Trump populism. The Democratic party is run by a largely-senile president who was pushed out of office against his own wishes and was nowhere to be seen throughout the election; along with a former president who is nowhere to be seen until itās time to campaign for a few weeks leading up to the vote; along with a former Speaker who, while smart, is an 84-year old millionaire none of us can relate to or connect with. This isnāt the kind of leadership that wins elections and unless something changes, it will continue to happen over and over again.
Kamala was not a perfect candidate, but she ran a decent campaign, all things considered. Sure, she couldāve done many things differently, but I donāt think it wouldāve changed the outcome one bit. It was an impossible task and now we live in a world where the only two female presidential candidates in our countriesā history have both been defeated by Donald Trump. It stings, bad. Itās a grim reality, but it is our reality and if we want it to change, weāll need to stay engaged, stay focused, and stick together.
-Clayton
PS - I think Jon sums it up well here, and Jonathan does a pretty entertaining job as well, below that:
2024 11 02
The other day, I asked a friend if she wanted to get involved in one of my endless list of side projects. She politely declined by saying she was āunderwaterā. This caused me to realize Iāve been fully submerged myself for three years now, like a fish swimming around towards whatever task it deems most important or most interesting any given day or moment. Iām starting to wonder how sustainable this approach to life is!
That said, the last three years of my life have been perhaps the best (recency bias may play a factor, sure, but this is an honest assessment!) as Iāve gotten married, explored a ton of new things, built out my studio which Iām incredible proud of, made endless new contacts, focused more on my creative outlets (was just out working on a personal project yesterday), ditched a bunch of less-healthy distractions (stock market, politics and geopolitics, largely), and a bunch more Iām probably not thinking of. On top of all this, however, the last few years have also easily been the most stressful of my adult life from a financial perspective. I often wonder if these two divergent trends are related (I think they are, to an extent) and how my happiness might be affected if I was rolling in cash (happiness is over-rated but money is even more so, imo!).
Anyway.
These are some thoughts I should further explore in writing in the months ahead. Today, I attempt to swim to the surface to catch a view of things.
-Clayton
Staying aflot to catch some lunch. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
The other day, I asked a friend if she wanted to get involved in one of my endless list of side projects. She politely declined by saying she was āunderwaterā. This caused me to realize Iāve been fully submerged myself for three years now, like a fish swimming around towards whatever task it deems most important or most interesting any given day or moment. Iām starting to wonder how sustainable this approach to life is!
That said, the last three years of my life have been perhaps the best (recency bias may play a factor, sure, but this is an honest assessment!) as Iāve gotten married, explored a ton of new things, built out my studio which Iām incredible proud of, made endless new contacts, focused more on my creative outlets (was just out working on a personal project yesterday), ditched a bunch of less-healthy distractions (stock market, politics and geopolitics, largely), and a bunch more Iām probably not thinking of. On top of all this, however, the last few years have also easily been the most stressful of my adult life from a financial perspective. I often wonder if these two divergent trends are related (I think they are, to an extent) and how my happiness might be affected if I was rolling in cash (happiness is over-rated but money is even more so, imo!).
Anyway.
These are some thoughts I should further explore in writing in the months ahead. Today, I attempt to swim to the surface to catch a view of things.
-Clayton
2024 10 25
Todayās picture comes from the future! This is because I posted it the day after I was supposed to. Donāt tell anyone.
Depending on how you look at it, though, it was actually early. People seeing this post from a far-away galaxy wonāt have access for it for perhaps millions of years.
My audience is huge on Planet Clayborg in the Zxx3 system.
-Clayton
Star-filled night sky over St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Todayās picture comes from the future! This is because I posted it the day after I was supposed to. Donāt tell anyone.
Depending on how you look at it, though, it was actually early. People seeing this post from a far-away galaxy wonāt have access for it for perhaps millions of years.
My audience is huge on Planet Clayborg in the Zxx3 system.
-Clayton
2024 10 13
Off day today. That said, I woke up early and watched the worldās largest rocket launch and then immediately land back on the tower it launched from. Space X is truly game-changing technology and, I think, far less appreciated (for better or for worse) than it should be. The things they are now making routine will change the world in ways we canāt yet imagine, far beyond simply putting things into space or going to Mars.
-Clayton
Chilling on the lake. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Off day today. That said, I woke up early and watched the worldās largest rocket launch and then immediately land back on the tower it launched from. Space X is truly game-changing technology and, I think, far less appreciated (for better or for worse) than it should be. The things they are now making routine will change the world in ways we canāt yet imagine, far beyond simply putting things into space or going to Mars.
-Clayton
2024 10 06
The recent flooding caused from Hurricane Helene was obviously disastrous. One depressing observation Iāve had since then is the discourse on social media. A large number of people (and/or bots, influencer accounts, foreign hostile disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theorists, etc, etc) have been commenting about how the government has been either actively involved in ācontrollingā the weather or delaying the response, for any number of reasons.
My current thinking is that I need to finally rid myself of the twitter app, as it seems to be actively working to increase tensions ahead of the election. The videos being fed to me are wild, terrifying, grim, and hard to turn away from. All this to say, the video below popped into my youtube feed while editing images tonight and, while also intense, was a rather authentic representation of what it was like to live through the current disaster from a first person perspective. It was definitely eye opening in a number of ways.
If you are curious about what went down but want to avoid the extreme social media spin takes, the video below is worth your time.
-Clayton
Water. It is you, yet it will kill you every chance it gets. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
The recent flooding caused from Hurricane Helene was obviously disastrous. One depressing observation Iāve had since then is the discourse on social media. A large number of people (and/or bots, influencer accounts, foreign hostile disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theorists, etc, etc) have been commenting about how the government has been either actively involved in ācontrollingā the weather or delaying the response, for any number of reasons.
My current thinking is that I need to finally rid myself of the twitter app, as it seems to be actively working to increase tensions ahead of the election. The videos being fed to me are wild, terrifying, grim, and hard to turn away from. All this to say, the video below popped into my youtube feed while editing images tonight and, while also intense, was a rather authentic representation of what it was like to live through the current disaster from a first person perspective. It was definitely eye opening in a number of ways.
If you are curious about what went down but want to avoid the extreme social media spin takes, the video below is worth your time.
-Clayton
2024 09 26
You miss posting one day, and that turns into two days, which then turns into a week. I missed posting yesterday, as I was busy working and then immediately connected with friends for dinner, which turned into an all-night celebration. Iām allowing myself grace by posting this image, today, under yesterdayās date. Letās see if I can get around to making a post happen today, now.
-Clayton, a busy boy.
Night in the Northwoods. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
You miss posting one day, and that turns into two days, which then turns into a week. I missed posting yesterday, as I was busy working and then immediately connected with friends for dinner, which turned into an all-night celebration. Iām allowing myself grace by posting this image, today, under yesterdayās date. Letās see if I can get around to making a post happen today, now.
-Clayton, a busy boy.
2024 08 29
Ten minutes prior to deadline. Although, technically, Iāve missed the deadline since itās passed midnight in my current location on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Iāll give myself a pass since itās not quite tomorrow yet in Chicago. But Iām walking on thin ice around here. This image, made in upstate Wisconsin, reminded me of my week here on the waters of coastal Maryland. I always love making images of water and waves, especially when beautiful lighting is involved. Itās cheap, sure, but look how mesmerizing this is!
See you tomorrow (today).
-Clayton
Lake waves. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Ten minutes prior to deadline. Although, technically, Iāve missed the deadline since itās passed midnight in my current location on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Iāll give myself a pass since itās not quite tomorrow yet in Chicago. But Iām walking on thin ice around here. This image, made in upstate Wisconsin, reminded me of my week here on the waters of coastal Maryland. I always love making images of water and waves, especially when beautiful lighting is involved. Itās cheap, sure, but look how mesmerizing this is!
See you tomorrow (today).
-Clayton