2024 12 11
Today, a dad joke, because that’s all I have time for at the moment, as the world spirals towards wherever it’s heading and this dog meekly looks on.
A man walks into a zoo. The only animal in there is a dog.
It's a shitzu.
-Clayton
Dog on leash at night. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Today, a dad joke, because that’s all I have time for at the moment, as the world spirals towards wherever it’s heading and this dog meekly looks on.
A man walks into a zoo. The only animal in there is a dog.
It's a shitzu.
-Clayton
2024 12 10
This selection of crapy movies (and an uneaten Taco Bell burrito) appeared outside my studio recently as if attempting to lure a lonely man into its web of wasted time. I looked up in search of an anvil or large rope-tie mechanism but none were to be found. Apparently, it was merely a pile of discarded dreams. Perhaps an inspired attempt by a man with a new-found female companion to appear a bit less like a college student.
Today, I photographed a scene that is set to be next month’s cover of Chicago’s biggest (and last?) remaining glossy mag. While not quite the honor it might’ve been even a few years ago, I was still up much of the night stress-dreaming about lighting schemes. The shoot location was a bit complicated and challenging, and I was unable to secure an assistant on last minute notice, so my nerves were high. Fortunately, things went smoothly and I’m optimistic we’ll have a solid cover on our hands; but no matter how good your cover image, or how much you prepare or stress over your cover shoot, it’s likely to be soon forgotten just like this scrap heap of yesterday’s covers.
-Clayton
Pile of crappy movies.. and a burrito, apparently. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This selection of crapy movies (and an uneaten Taco Bell burrito) appeared outside my studio recently as if attempting to lure a lonely man into its web of wasted time. I looked up in search of an anvil or large rope-tie mechanism but none were to be found. Apparently, it was merely a pile of discarded dreams. Perhaps an inspired attempt by a man with a new-found female companion to appear a bit less like a college student.
Today, I photographed a scene that is set to be next month’s cover of Chicago’s biggest (and last?) remaining glossy mag. While not quite the honor it might’ve been even a few years ago, I was still up much of the night stress-dreaming about lighting schemes. The shoot location was a bit complicated and challenging, and I was unable to secure an assistant on last minute notice, so my nerves were high. Fortunately, things went smoothly and I’m optimistic we’ll have a solid cover on our hands; but no matter how good your cover image, or how much you prepare or stress over your cover shoot, it’s likely to be soon forgotten just like this scrap heap of yesterday’s covers.
-Clayton
2024 12 09
Now that we’re almost a year into this daily blogging, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to focus on next year. My current aim is to keep this thing going, although if I miss a day here and there I’m not going to stress about it. We’ll see if that leads to a total unraveling or not. I’m kind of an all-or-nothing guy.
One consideration is attempting a weekly street photo session. I’ve really been missing doing more of that kind of shooting. Getting back to my roots, yet again, but in a different sort of way. We’ll see.
Another strong consideration is finally opening that photobook shop for real this time. I have an ongoing vision that I will do so, and we’ll also sell Allison’s baked goods, which will end up being far more popular than photobooks, so we’ll end up with a bakery. I guess that wouldn’t be a bad thing if that’s how it plays out. You don’t know til you try, so they say.
-Clayton
Allison has something in her eye. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Now that we’re almost a year into this daily blogging, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to focus on next year. My current aim is to keep this thing going, although if I miss a day here and there I’m not going to stress about it. We’ll see if that leads to a total unraveling or not. I’m kind of an all-or-nothing guy.
One consideration is attempting a weekly street photo session. I’ve really been missing doing more of that kind of shooting. Getting back to my roots, yet again, but in a different sort of way. We’ll see.
Another strong consideration is finally opening that photobook shop for real this time. I have an ongoing vision that I will do so, and we’ll also sell Allison’s baked goods, which will end up being far more popular than photobooks, so we’ll end up with a bakery. I guess that wouldn’t be a bad thing if that’s how it plays out. You don’t know til you try, so they say.
-Clayton
2024 12 08
Off day! Here’s a photo from work; behind the scenes on a portrait shoot at the studio. See you tomorrow when I’m hopefully recovered from my crazy self-imposed work schedule the last few weeks.
-Clayton
Behind the scenes on a portrait shoot at my See You Soon studio space. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Off day! Here’s a photo from work; behind the scenes on a portrait shoot at the studio. See you tomorrow when I’m hopefully recovered from my crazy self-imposed work schedule the last few weeks.
-Clayton
2024 12 07
Yesterday, while walking to work early in the morning, I was noticing things I hadn’t noticed before. This was, I think, because the early-morning light was different from what I normally encounter. It got me thinking about how even myself, who I consider an extremely observant person, will experience things quite differently depending on the details of the moment. The weather, the lighting conditions, your mood, current events and politics, any people around you, these things will all affect your perspective and potentially change it quite dramatically.
Anyway, the reason I didn’t post yesterday is because I was at the holiday market (which I organized) the entire day and am still exhausted the following morning even after sleeping nine hours. I’m not sure what it is about hosting events. They can destroy me mentally and physically, yet I somehow enjoy the abuse and each time only want to come back bigger and better on the next one. Eventually, one of them will break me and I’ll move on to knitting or something a bit more casual. Or maybe photography?
-Clayton
Rainy Brewers stadium. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. August, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Yesterday, while walking to work early in the morning, I was noticing things I hadn’t noticed before. This was, I think, because the early-morning light was different from what I normally encounter. It got me thinking about how even myself, who I consider an extremely observant person, will experience things quite differently depending on the details of the moment. The weather, the lighting conditions, your mood, current events and politics, any people around you, these things will all affect your perspective and potentially change it quite dramatically.
Anyway, the reason I didn’t post yesterday is because I was at the holiday market (which I organized) the entire day and am still exhausted the following morning even after sleeping nine hours. I’m not sure what it is about hosting events. They can destroy me mentally and physically, yet I somehow enjoy the abuse and each time only want to come back bigger and better on the next one. Eventually, one of them will break me and I’ll move on to knitting or something a bit more casual. Or maybe photography?
-Clayton
2024 12 06
“All department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department stores” -Warhol
This amazing quote was revealed to me during a great podcast episode with photographer Christian Patterson and host Sasha Wolf. Christian mentioned it in referece to his new photobook project Gong Co, in which he documented a rural, ailing store over the course of many years. I loved hearing about the project and how he originally discovered this store by chance while driving from Memphis to New Orleans. It reminded me of some of the places I’ve stumbled upon on my brief stints in rural Illinois this year.
Excited to see this book once it hits my doorstep, as I just ordered it from BPS. Anyway, back to work… setting up a market in my photo studio (lol).
-Clayton
Empty table. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
“All department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department stores” -Warhol
This amazing quote was revealed to me during a great podcast episode with photographer Christian Patterson and host Sasha Wolf. Christian mentioned it in referece to his new photobook project Gong Co, in which he documented a rural, ailing store over the course of many years. I loved hearing about the project and how he originally discovered this store by chance while driving from Memphis to New Orleans. It reminded me of some of the places I’ve stumbled upon on my brief stints in rural Illinois this year.
Excited to see this book once it hits my doorstep, as I just ordered it from BPS. Anyway, back to work… setting up a market in my photo studio (lol).
-Clayton
2024 12 05
The most incredible thing happened today! I awoke to a message from a buddy. He was wondering if I knew the meaning behind a message scrawled on the dumpster next to Bang Bang pie shop.
“Isuzu is good for the brown paint industry,” it reads.
My buddy was so curious about this message that he decided to google it. Incredibly, the search brought him to this here blog, as I previously wrote about the dumpster (see: 2024_10_12). It’s amazing that a not-insignificant portion of the traffic this blog sees is directed by a dumpster.
-Clayton
I want to start a family so I can use these car decals. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
The most incredible thing happened today! I awoke to a message from a buddy. He was wondering if I knew the meaning behind a message scrawled on the dumpster next to Bang Bang pie shop.
“Isuzu is good for the brown paint industry,” it reads.
My buddy was so curious about this message that he decided to google it. Incredibly, the search brought him to this here blog, as I previously wrote about the dumpster (see: 2024_10_12). It’s amazing that a not-insignificant portion of the traffic this blog sees is directed by a dumpster.
-Clayton
2024 12 04
Prepping a market, printing, framing, prepping a market, printing framing…
I think it was Warhol that once said: eventually every photo studio will become a mall and every mall will become dead/a location to film music videos.
Or maybe it was Bukowski.
Anyway.
Back to framing and printing and prepping a market and possibly sleeping.
-Clayton
Armitage Produce. Birds love it! Chicago, Illinois. August, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Prepping a market, printing, framing, prepping a market, printing framing…
I think it was Warhol that once said: eventually every photo studio will become a mall and every mall will become dead/a location to film music videos.
Or maybe it was Bukowski.
Anyway.
Back to framing and printing and prepping a market and possibly sleeping.
-Clayton
2024 12 03
One low-key highlight during our incredible wedding weekend this September was staying at The Robey. You know, that tall building in The Crotch of Wicker Park that used to be abandoned and is now a boutique hotel. We splurged on a corner suite on a high floor and, while expensive, I loved it so much it had me wanting to live there.
“How long will you be staying with us, sir?”
“Indefinitely, I’m being sued for divorce,” I joked with myself in my head, hours before getting married (it’s a Rushmore reference, for those confused).
In the early-morning hours, the sun creeps up over the skyline before blasting you in the face with a nice natural wake-up call. Surely, if I lived here, I’d get comfortable with the blackout blinds, but seeing as I only had two morning to enjoy the views, I was up early snapping photos while I should’ve been catching some beauty Z’s.
It has been interesting to see the city’s downtown creep westward in recent years, as the West Loop and Fulton Market continue to be hot. Part of me regrets not grabbing a loft back when they were somewhat affordable, but I still love our home in the more modest and somewhat chill westside neighborhood off The 606, which has shaped my life quite dramatically in the last decade, though I still long for those million dollar city views. One day, perhaps.
-Clayton
Skyline views from The Robey Hotel. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
One low-key highlight during our incredible wedding weekend this September was staying at The Robey. You know, that tall building in The Crotch of Wicker Park that used to be abandoned and is now a boutique hotel. We splurged on a corner suite on a high floor and, while expensive, I loved it so much it had me wanting to live there.
“How long will you be staying with us, sir?”
“Indefinitely, I’m being sued for divorce,” I joked with myself in my head, hours before getting married (it’s a Rushmore reference, for those confused).
In the early-morning hours, the sun creeps up over the skyline before blasting you in the face with a nice natural wake-up call. Surely, if I lived here, I’d get comfortable with the blackout blinds, but seeing as I only had two morning to enjoy the views, I was up early snapping photos while I should’ve been catching some beauty Z’s.
It has been interesting to see the city’s downtown creep westward in recent years, as the West Loop and Fulton Market continue to be hot. Part of me regrets not grabbing a loft back when they were somewhat affordable, but I still love our home in the more modest and somewhat chill westside neighborhood off The 606, which has shaped my life quite dramatically in the last decade. I still long for those million dollar city views, though. One day, perhaps.
-Clayton
2024 12 02
Seems like we’re due for another Life Update Monday around here. It’s been a while. As always, I use this blog primarily as a space for me to think and practice writing. Honestly, after close to a year of doing this every day, I’m happy with the results so far! That said, this year has also been a blur. I’m clearly taking on too much and doing too many different things. While mostly by design, I’m aware it’s not sustainable and plan to scale back on my ambitions next year, while hopefully focusing on less things simultaneously.
Today, I woke up to a social media post that hit me:
Nietzsche describes 3 modern vices:
Overwork. To be constantly busy is self-negation. It betrays "a will to forget" oneself.
Curiosity. Vague curiosity about everything, without deep obsessions, goes nowhere.
Sympathy. Sympathy for all = a refusal to rank good and bad.
I’m definitely guilty of numbers one and two and generally agree with his assessment of their negative aspects. These next two weeks are going to be a whirlwind, as I have a number of studio events going on (including a holiday market I organized happening this Saturday!) and multiple photo shoots (some my own, including a large four-day shoot, along with others where I play the role of studio manager). Picking priorities and ensuring the most important tasks don’t get neglected is critical, but of course, many of the less important details are going to get put off. My printing, side projects, a holiday party, bartending, Illinois Project, reading, photo editing, website updating, blogging, film screenings, portrait sessions, all will have to wait until next year.
Bigger picture, a big takeaway I’ve had from this year’s chaos was that I love running a photo studio space, largely for reasons that don’t even involve photo shoots: hosting and planning events, collaborating with fun and interesting people, community. It’s a ton of work and exhausting, but nevertheless fills me with purpose and inspiration. The big challenge is figuring out how to make an event space sustainable financially.
Ideally, I can continue to focus my time and energy on these things, while also keeping my love for photography in the forefront. I continually look at places like Baltimore Photo Space as inspiration and plan to pursuit some hybrid entity that combines all the things See You Soon already is, while making it more focused on photography as an art form, which I continue to think is wildly underrated.
I realize this is all quite vague, and that’s because it is and will continue to be a work in progress, and there are still lots of questions to be answered. This post, I hope, will serve as a reminder to myself that I can’t neglect focusing inward and giving my own voice a space to talk. Whatever becomes of See You Soon will be best guided by following my own interests and excitement and not by attempting to copy something that exists elsewhere.
-Clayton
Baltimore Photo Space. Photo Books Inside. Baltimore, Maryland. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Seems like we’re due for another Life Update Monday around here. It’s been a while. As always, I use this blog primarily as a space for me to think and practice writing. Honestly, after close to a year of doing this every day, I’m happy with the results so far! That said, this year has also been a blur. I’m clearly taking on too much and doing too many different things. While mostly by design, I’m aware it’s not sustainable and plan to scale back on my ambitions next year, while hopefully focusing on less things simultaneously.
Today, I woke up to a social media post that hit me:
Nietzsche describes 3 modern vices:
Overwork. To be constantly busy is self-negation. It betrays "a will to forget" oneself.
Curiosity. Vague curiosity about everything, without deep obsessions, goes nowhere.
Sympathy. Sympathy for all = a refusal to rank good and bad.
I’m definitely guilty of numbers one and two and generally agree with his assessment of their negative aspects. These next two weeks are going to be a whirlwind, as I have a number of studio events going on (including a holiday market I organized happening this Saturday!) and multiple photo shoots (some my own, including a large four-day shoot, along with others where I play the role of studio manager). Picking priorities and ensuring the most important tasks don’t get neglected is critical, but of course, many of the less important details are going to get put off. My printing, side projects, a holiday party, bartending, Illinois Project, reading, photo editing, website updating, blogging, film screenings, portrait sessions, all will have to wait until next year.
Bigger picture, a big takeaway I’ve had from this year’s chaos was that I love running a photo studio space, largely for reasons that don’t even involve photo shoots: hosting and planning events, collaborating with fun and interesting people, community. It’s a ton of work and exhausting, but nevertheless fills me with purpose and inspiration. The big challenge is figuring out how to make an event space sustainable financially.
Ideally, I can continue to focus my time and energy on these things, while also keeping my love for photography in the forefront. I continually look at places like Baltimore Photo Space as inspiration and plan to pursuit some hybrid entity that combines all the things See You Soon already is, while making it more focused on photography as an art form, which I continue to think is wildly underrated.
I realize this is all quite vague, and that’s because it is and will continue to be a work in progress, and there are still lots of questions to be answered. This post, I hope, will serve as a reminder to myself that I can’t neglect focusing inward and giving my own voice a space to talk. Whatever becomes of See You Soon will be best guided by following my own interests and excitement and not by attempting to copy something that exists elsewhere.
-Clayton
2024 12 01
Off Day!
Out looking at trees. One of them will come home with us. I’ve never had a “real” Christmas tree before. It always seemed like a bit of a weird tradition to me, as much as I like having the decorations up to set a nice mood. It’s mostly the part about the mass killing of trees just for a few weeks of use that bothers me. I guess today is the day I embrace the tree slaughter and participate in this human tradition.
-Clayton
Bare trees. Rockford, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Off Day!
Out looking at trees. One of them will come home with us. I’ve never had a “real” Christmas tree before. It always seemed like a bit of a weird tradition to me, as much as I like having the decorations up to set a nice mood. It’s mostly the part about the mass killing of trees just for a few weeks of use that bothers me. I guess today is the day I embrace the tree slaughter and participate in this human tradition.
-Clayton
2024 11 30
Nothing is forever. Entire industries change. Cities change. Countries change. Things go through cycles and once prosperous places turn to ghost towns.
Pittsburgh had a population of nearly 700,000 people in the 1950’s. Today it is around 300,000. Back in 1950, my industry of commercial photography, had (guesstimate) 3,000 members nationwide. Today, that number is (guesstimate) 250,000,000. It’s hard to stand out in a crowd of two-hundred and fifty million people!
Frustrated with some of what’s happening in my biz, I jotted down the following, while venting to myself. I try to keep things mostly positive around here, but it’s also nice to pay attention to why things are no longer working like they once had.
Here’s our director, he’s on the computer figuring out motion graphics. (scene in youtube promo for a production company that I watched)
Here’s our director of photography, we’re making him edit the spots we just shot, which he hates but what can you do? (scene in youtube promo for a production company that I watched)
I recently mentioned to a DP candidate on a doc project we are doing that we need a good colorist and his immediate response was, “I’m a colorist, bro!”
“I’m a messenger without a message,” the creative director of a company told us today in reply to his company not being happy with the work done by the creative agency and production company that hired me to shoot photos.
It’s a free-for-all SHIT SHOW out there. Everyone is doing everything themselves and billing whatever-the-fuck some guy on social media told them makes sense. Meanwhile, our clients are asking to sign contracts with $5 million in errors and omissions coverage on a job they don’t quite have enough of a budget to actually produce. People sign these contracts without actually reading them, desperate for work.
We shot some test videos a few days back and I joked that we should’ve instead hired a kid to capture some behind-the-scenes videos on their cellphone to post to tiktok if we really wanted to find some new clients.
-Clayton
One of the many bridges of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Nothing is forever. Entire industries change. Cities change. Countries change. Things go through cycles and once-prosperous places turn to ghost towns.
Pittsburgh had a population of nearly 700,000 people in the 1950’s. Today it is around 300,000. Back in 1950, my industry of commercial photography, had (guesstimate) 3,000 members nationwide. Today, that number is (guesstimate) 250,000,000. It’s hard to stand out in a crowd of two-hundred and fifty million people!
Frustrated with some of what’s happening in my biz, I jotted down the following, while venting to myself. I try to keep things mostly positive around here, but it’s also nice to pay attention to why things are no longer working like they once had.
Here’s our director, he’s on the computer figuring out motion graphics. (scene in youtube promo for a production company that I watched)
Here’s our director of photography, we’re making him edit the spots we just shot, which he hates but what can you do? (scene in youtube promo for a production company that I watched)
I recently mentioned to a DP candidate on a doc project we are doing that we need a good colorist and his immediate response was, “I’m a colorist, bro!”
“I’m a messenger without a message,” the creative director of a company told us today in reply to his company not being happy with the work done by the creative agency and production company that hired me to shoot photos.
It’s a free-for-all SHIT SHOW out there. Everyone is doing everything themselves and billing whatever-the-fuck some guy on social media told them makes sense. Meanwhile, our clients are asking to sign contracts with $5 million in errors and omissions coverage on a job they don’t quite have enough of a budget to actually produce. People sign these contracts without actually reading them, desperate for work.
We shot some test videos a few days back and I joked that we should’ve instead hired a kid to capture some behind-the-scenes videos on their cellphone to post to tiktok if we really wanted to find some new clients.
-Clayton
2024 11 29
This year has been an eventful one for me in so many ways. One event I was proud of was the photo show and discussion I hosted at my space with photographer Nathan Pearce and photographer/photobook publisher Clint Woodside of Deadbeat Club. I’m aiming to do more events and shows of this nature, but running an event space mostly by myself, on top of all my other jobs and the “day job” of the space, makes ambitious regular programing not quite possible. This is further complicated by the building I’m in being in a bit of a defining phase. Is it an arts building or is it a professional’s office building? Time will tell and money talks.
Much like the building, I myself am in a transitional phase, and I’m not quite sure which direction I will be heading in a few years. I write about it quite a lot on this here blog, but my core business of commercial photography is quite turbulent lately and the longer-term outlook is hazy. There are so many challenges facing photographers like myself, and I think we’re all sort of wondering what we should be focusing on.
Just now, I hung sixteen prints in the lobby of my building, the Kimball Arts Center. Learning to print, learning to frame, learning to hang. These are all skills I’ve neglected as a photographer and I feel like this, in addition to a bunch of other stuff I’m spending time on lately, is myself revisiting fundamentals that I largely skipped in my younger years. It’s really the little wins that keep me going, as hard as it has been. While being enthusiastic and excited about printing your work is nice, making it sustainable financially is a completely different scenario. I was joking with a fellow photographer/director, who is also going through a slow patch, that booking commercial projects is far easier than selling fine art photo prints. It’s hard to even give these things away! I get it, though. This is not a get rich quick scheme. It’s hardly even a business endeavor. It’s fundamentals. Hard hat, lunch pail. Put in the reps. Put in the work. It leads somewhere. Where, exactly, I’m not sure, but I’m doing my best to make sure I’m enjoying the path and learning while I go.
-Clayton
Hanging a photo show with Nathan Pearce at my See You Soon studio. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This year has been an eventful one for me in so many ways. One event I was proud of was the photo show and discussion I hosted at my space with photographer Nathan Pearce and photographer/photobook publisher Clint Woodside of Deadbeat Club. I’m aiming to do more events and shows of this nature, but running an event space mostly by myself, on top of all my other jobs and the “day job” of the space, makes ambitious regular programing not quite possible. This is further complicated by the building I’m in being in a bit of a defining phase. Is it an arts building or is it a professional’s office building? Time will tell and money talks.
Much like the building, I myself am in a transitional phase, and I’m not quite sure which direction I will be heading in a few years. I write about it quite a lot on this here blog, but my core business of commercial photography is quite turbulent lately and the longer-term outlook is hazy. There are so many challenges facing photographers like myself, and I think we’re all sort of wondering what we should be focusing on.
Just now, I hung sixteen prints in the lobby of my building, the Kimball Arts Center, as a homeless man dozed off on the coffee shop bench. Learning to print, learning to frame, learning to hang. These are all skills I’ve neglected as a photographer and I feel like this, in addition to a bunch of other stuff I’m spending time on lately, is myself revisiting fundamentals that I largely skipped in my younger years. It’s really the little wins that keep me going, as hard as it has been. While being enthusiastic and excited about printing your work is nice, making it sustainable financially is a completely different scenario. I was joking with a fellow photographer/director, who is also going through a slow patch, that booking commercial projects is far easier than selling fine art photo prints.
It’s hard to even give these things away!
I get it, though. This is not a get rich quick scheme. It’s hardly even a business endeavor. It’s fundamentals. Hard hat, lunch pail. Put in the reps. Put in the work. It leads somewhere. Where, exactly, I’m not sure, but I’m doing my best to make sure I’m enjoying the path and learning while I go, while doing my best at not also becoming a homeless person myself.
-Clayton
2024 11 28
Happy Thanksgiving!
-Clayton
Art in the wild. Don’t Fret. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Happy Thanksgiving!
-Clayton
2024 11 27
Hey, look! It’s another print giveaway! This image was made in the waning days of Covid when most people weren’t yet out and about. I hate to admit it, but if I could do it all over again, I would’ve been out exploring the world all through Covid. I know that’s wildly selfish — we took covid very seriously in our house! Of course, hindsight is also different. My point is, I think, that you only have one life and the change to see the world without all the crowds was an amazing one, even if I only had a few short days doing so.
On that note, I need to take a covid test before dinner tomorrow. Are these things even accurate anymore, though?
In the spirit of giving, I’m giving away yet another limited edition signed print! If you’d like this one in your home, fill out the form atop the print shop and/or leave a comment below! Doing either, or both, will give you one entry into The Contest. Considering there are currently only four entrants with a few days to go (contest runs through the end of the month), you have a pretty dang good chance of winning!
-Clayton
“Half Way To Hell” Cadillac Ranch. Amarillo, Texas. 2021. © Clayton Hauck
Hey, look! It’s another print giveaway! This image was made in the waning days of Covid when most people weren’t yet out and about. I hate to admit it, but if I could do it all over again, I would’ve been out exploring the world all through Covid. I know that’s wildly selfish — we took covid very seriously in our house! Of course, hindsight is also different. My point is, I think, that you only have one life and the change to see the world without all the crowds was an amazing one, even if I only had a few short days doing so.
On that note, I need to take a Covid test before dinner tomorrow. Are these things even accurate anymore, though?
In the spirit of giving, I’m giving away yet another limited edition signed print! If you’d like this one in your home, fill out the form atop the print shop and/or leave a comment below! Doing either, or both, will give you one entry into The Contest. Considering there are currently only four entrants with a few days to go (contest runs through the end of the month), you have a pretty dang good chance of winning!
-Clayton
2024 11 26
Only half a post today because I am so behind on… everything. This image has always jumped out to me for some reason and I finally figured out why I (and likely only I) like it. Back in my college years, I had a big old boat Oldsmobile. It looked very much like this car, only much longer. This car, pictured here, is interesting as I can’t recall seeing many cars like it. A baby boat.
-Clayton
Big old car, but smaller. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Only half a post today because I am so behind on… everything. This image has always jumped out to me for some reason and I finally figured out why I (and likely only I) like it. Back in my college years, I had a big old boat Oldsmobile. It looked very much like this car, only much longer. This car, pictured here, is interesting as I can’t recall seeing many cars like it. A baby boat.
-Clayton
2024 11 25
This morning, I woke up a bit grumpy, thinking about how success at my job has increasingly more to do with being good at sales than it does being good at photography. This isn’t just true for commercial photography but fine art, crafts, trades, etc.
Tonight, I read the latest Tim Kreider Loaf piece about how there’s a show at The Met right now consisting of art made by employees of The Met. He sums it up humorously by saying the museum is promoting it as well as if they were hanging their children’s macaroni art up on the fridge. Is art worthy if it was made by the security guard of the art museum?
Is art better if it is made by an attractive female who gains tens of thousands of views via social media posts consisting of high-energy videos of herself? It is worse because of this?
Of course, none of this is new, but I’ve been thinking about the landscape of the art world (you know, bananas taped to the wall and whatnot) a lot lately, as I myself wade deeper into art both through my photography and a documentary project, which is in the early stages of development. That documentary will likely explore these thoughts, ideas, and frustrations in further detail, so I need to figure out what art is. If anyone reading this knows, please leave it in the comment section below.
Thanks!
-Clayton
The art of skating as seen through neon art by Neon Mike. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This morning, I woke up a bit grumpy, thinking about how success at my job has increasingly more to do with being good at sales than it does being good at photography. This isn’t just true for commercial photography but fine art, crafts, trades, etc.
Tonight, I read the latest Tim Kreider Loaf piece about how there’s a show at The Met right now consisting of art made by employees of The Met. He sums it up humorously by saying the museum is promoting it as well as if they were hanging their children’s macaroni art up on the fridge. Is art worthy if it was made by the security guard of the art museum?
Is art better if it is made by an attractive female who gains tens of thousands of views via social media posts consisting of high-energy videos of herself? It is worse because of this?
Of course, none of this is new, but I’ve been thinking about the landscape of the art world (you know, bananas taped to the wall and whatnot) a lot lately, as I myself wade deeper into art both through my photography and a documentary project, which is in the early stages of development. That documentary will likely explore these thoughts, ideas, and frustrations in further detail, so I need to figure out what art is. If anyone reading this knows, please leave it in the comment section below.
Thanks!
-Clayton
2024 11 24
Did you know the roller coaster sound of a lift hill that plays while the iconic game RollerCoaster Tycoon loads up is from Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America? I worked at Great America and operated that ride for a few years. This year, in my current job as photographer, I also got to utilize a roller coaster while taking tourism photography in Ocean City, Maryland. While there, I met the owner of a roller coaster and thought to myself: this very well could be me in a few more decades.
-Clayton
Roller coaster towers over the bus station. Ocean City, Maryland. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Did you know the roller coaster sound of a lift hill that plays while the iconic game RollerCoaster Tycoon loads up is from Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America? I worked at Great America and operated that ride for a few years. This year, in my current job as photographer, I also got to utilize a roller coaster while taking tourism photography in Ocean City, Maryland. While there, I met the owner of a roller coaster and thought to myself: this very well could be me in a few more decades.
-Clayton
2024 11 23
Today, Streator, Illinois has the same population which it had in the late 1800’s, back when all of Illinois was booming. New towns were being constructed across the empty countryside, each with a grand town square.
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about how Chicago and the state of Illinois struggles in a post-boom cycle. When populations are stagnant or even declining, it becomes very hard to maintain appearances. This is what I fell alseep writing about the other night, specifically about how there used to be am elevated commuter train line running nearby our house. That elevated line was removed, along with many others, while Chicago was struggling as a city in the era of White Flight and Suburbanization. New towns were being constructed in mass-produced cookie-cutter fashion outside of the old city centers, fully enabled by the automobile and Globalized trade.
I find these small town with good bones fascinating. They get my creative visions flowing with all the possibilities. But as is always the case, in order to make big things happen you need people. Without people, these places will remain empty storefronts filled with dusty old motorcycles on display, devoid of much function beyond nostalgia and reminiscing. More on all this later, maybe.
-Clayton
Motorcycle in the window. Streator, Illinois.
Today, Streator, Illinois has the same population which it had in the late 1800’s, back when all of Illinois was booming. New towns were being constructed across the empty countryside, each with a grand town square and most with a train connection or two.
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about how Chicago and the state of Illinois struggles in a post-boom cycle. When populations are stagnant or even declining, it becomes very hard to maintain appearances. This is what I fell alseep writing about the other night, specifically about how there used to be am elevated commuter train line running nearby our house. That elevated line was removed, along with many others, while Chicago was struggling as a city in the era of White Flight and Suburbanization. New towns were being constructed in mass-produced cookie-cutter fashion outside of the old city centers, fully enabled by the automobile and Globalized trade.
I find these small town with good bones fascinating. They get my creative visions flowing with all the possibilities. But as is always the case, in order to make big things happen you need people. Without people, these places will remain empty storefronts filled with dusty old motorcycles on display, devoid of much function beyond nostalgia and reminiscing. More on all this later, maybe.
-Clayton
2024 11 22
Yesterday, I had too many of these bad boys (cocktails) in what was the final night of a wild stretch of eight straight days of working every waking hour. Three big events and five days full of portrait sessions. Today, I enjoyed sleeping in while mending my hangover. I actually attempted to get a post up last night but fell asleep with the laptop in my arms. Yeah, I think it’s time I give myself some well-needed rest. Hopefully part of that rest will be to get a bit more focus into this here blog. It’s not work if you love doing it, right??!
-Clayton
Blurry cocktail at Bryant’s. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Yesterday, I had too many of these bad boys (cocktails) in what was the final night of a wild stretch of eight straight days of working every waking hour. Three big events and five days full of portrait sessions. Today, I enjoyed sleeping in while mending my hangover. I actually attempted to get a post up last night but fell asleep with the laptop in my arms. Yeah, I think it’s time I give myself some well-needed rest. Hopefully part of that rest will be to get a bit more focus into this here blog. It’s not work if you love doing it, right??!
-Clayton