2024 08 30

Another day. Another ordinary house photo. Or is it? Chicago, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

I’m standing in a cheap motel room outside of Pittsburgh with the clock ticking yet again dangerously close to missing a day of posting to this here blog. I’m amazed by how economic we’ll call it American hotel designs have become in a never-ending race towards maximizing profitability. Floors and walls seemingly made of cardboard and shower towels becoming so small they have nearly disappeared completely. But for simply sleeping eight or so hours, I’ll put up with all of this as long as the room is cheap, clean, and the bed is somewhat comfortable.

On my drive out here from Baltimore, I was reminded of a photo project I’d been wanting to do, which I never will do, due to it requiring a ridiculous amount of time to execute with likely underwhelming results. The idea is cute, though! While driving, my car’s navigation will often show me businesses that are located within residential neighborhoods. Usually they are expected (Haircuts by Jenn, Remarkable Wedding DJ Stan, etc), however, sometimes they are hilariously grand (International Shipping Inc, Global Finance Consulting, etc). I thought it would be fun to photograph these wildly ambitious corporate headquarters to create a series of images of mostly modest houses juxtaposed with the grand legal names. But the years of time it would take to compile this project is depressing when you consider Ai could build you similar-looking results in approximately ten seconds.

Side note: I drove past Baltimore Photo Space on my way out of town after an amazing taco dinner at Clavel and peered into the window with lustful eyes. Sadly, an actual visit to BPS will need to wait until who-knows-whenever I can get my ass back to Baltimore and be there on a Saturday morning.

-Clayton