2024 03 04
Apartment complex I often photograph as I walk this stretch. Chicago, Illinois. January, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
As a way to get myself to watch less youtube videos, I’m initiating a rule that if I watch a video I find worthwhile, I need to write about it on the ole daily photo blog.
As I was getting my morning coffee, they asked how I was. You know, the rhetorical “how are you?" only I bit and mentioned my head was all jumbled up with a mess of thoughts because I spent too much time “reading about AI yesterday.”
“Oh, what were you reading?” he asked back, genuinely interested in my peril.
“Heh. Well, I guess I wasn’t actually reading but watching youtube videos,” I replied, ashamed of myself.
This, however, was not met with scorn from the young barista but an acknowledgment that youtube and reading are essentially the same thing. He then asked which channels, which I again had no idea how to reply because when you’re just doom hopping on youtube you’re not really paying close attention to the people behind the content.
“Well, she writes about economics but this one wasn’t really about that—” I rambled, attempting to salvage my dignity in this moment.
“—Kyla?” he asked confidently.
Holy shit. Indeed it was a Kyla Scanlon video Why We Don’t Trust Each Other Anymore I’d watched which kicked off my spiral into AI doomerism (more on this video later—again, them’s the rules!). It’s remarkable to me how much youtube has become a main vehicle of communication in our world both for mindless time-suck gibberish and highbrow philosophical economics theory.
…
But this post isn’t about all that, it’s about how this Van Neistat video (linked below), which I watched (in the background) while trying (and failing) to get photo editing done, really struck a nerve. I feel I’m guilty of abandoning projects or simply not even beginning them largely because I too often have an issue giving myself a deadline or admitting a project is good enough to call it a wrap. This video was helpful in examining this mindset and I like how Van approaches his art even though it’s far too rigid for me to be able to implement myself — says the guy with a daily photo blog. Okay, well, at least I’m making an attempt to implement some rules around here.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can achieve excellence.”
Anyway, back to the photo editing. Enjoy the video.
-Clayton
