2024 10 18

Cool ride, bro. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Missed another post yesterday. The excuse is that my wife and I were out and about all dang day! We started the morning in Douglas, Michigan where we had a fabulous dinner the night before. This was followed by Saugatuck, Benton Harbor, St Joseph, Sawyer, and rural destinations in between. I’ve always been more of a Wisconsin guy, largely because my family is from there, however we both loved and kinda fell for Michigan. The sunset over the lake is an added bonus that is hard to beat for someone used to living across the pond. Silly analogies aside, the natural landscapes and charming towns in the Saugatuck area really had me feeling like we have a little slice of Europe right here in America.

-Clayton

2024 10 14

Another busted car. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Lee Friedlander is a favorite of mine. I stumbled upon this nice video, linked below, while avoiding watching football on Sunday afternoon. While I’ve always been attracted to Friendlander’s images, I haven’t put much effort into getting to know the man. That’s the case for me, generally, when it comes to historic photographer figures. I think a part of it is a worry that getting to know them as people will take away a bit of the magic. Perhaps it’s that I’m lazy and making excuses.

“Art is too big a word for me. It has too many letters in it.”

— Lee Friedlander

Lee was a bit of a rascal, it seems, which shows in his work and gives it personality. I often wonder what it is that gives talented photographers an edge and makes their work stand out. I also often wonder if my special skills aren’t accidental and knowing more about the craft and its masters will only reveal me as a fraud. As I get older, I’m coming to realize this is self-sabotage and I would be better served knowing, learning from, and embracing the people I am most impressed with.

“It seems to me if you had the answer why ask the question? The thing is there are so many questions. I wonder what it is going to look like if I stand here or if I stand there.  I don’t know. If fifty years of doing it meant that every time you picked up the camera you made a good one you wouldn’t have to take many. I make a lot of stupid pictures. Most of them are stupid because I’m trying to figure where to be or where to focus. I don’t think the problems area any different now. I grow wiser as time passes only because I know a little bit more about what is possible, only because I’ve done it for so long. I am used to being a craftsman. But maybe it’s not that. Maybe it’s infatuation. Age has no patent on infatuation.”

— Lee Friedlander

It would be smart of me to start a casual little series of posts investigating works of other photographers. This youtube channel is a great starting point, as Graeme is clearly full of knowledge and has a great eye for strong images. I previously wrote about his video covering another favorite, Nadav Kander (see: 2024 04 01). Now I just need to make some better images to go along with these posts about the all-time greats.

Additionally, this interview was where I pulled the two quotes and is worth a read.

-Clayton

2024 10 07

Another busted car. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

The clock just struck midnight and I haven’t posted yet today (yesterday). Been a busy boy, still.

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted a Busted Car™️ and this might be my favorite one yet! This was photographed while briefly in downtown Milwaukee on our way home from vacation in the Northwoods. The RNC was happening and this is probably the best photo I made in the few hours we spent in the hellscape that it was.

On a semi-related note, I can’t believe the election is right around the corner. Fuck.

-Clayton

2024 09 04

Busted car. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

This car hasn’t moved in three years. It exists solely for me to take an occasional photo of it, I think. One day, the hood was popped (as pictured)! I image the owner woke up in an ambitious mood. Today was the day they would watch a couple youtube videos and get their old car working again so they could drive down to the shrimp place on the south side they love but haven’t been able to get to in quite a while. A few hours later, the hood was back down and things returned to their normal state of being. The nearby shrimp joint will have to do.

See also: 2024 02 28

-Clayton

2024 07 31

Another day, another busted car. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2024.

While handwriting my morning pages (see: 2024 07 06) this morning, NPR played an audio recap of the month of July. What an insane time we are living in! It’s like there’s just such an endless amount of insanity that it all blends together and starts to feel normal. I don’t have any profound takeaway to follow this up with, but have been finding it helpful to ignore the outside chaos and stay focused on my own tasks and goals. Previously, I would’ve judged myself for this behavior, thinking it irresponsible to not know about the world I’m living in. I’d spend endless hours pouring over The Economist, twitter, The New Yorker, taking in as much information as possible to give myself an “informed opinion” on current events. These days, as an older, more experienced, and slightly wiser man, I know it’s not possible to understand the world and knowing things is essentially just another form of entertaining myself.

Stay safe out there, y’all!

-Clayton

PS - this reminds me of one of the greatest comedic skits of our time…

2024 07 28

Colorful car, full of rizz. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

If you’re a regular reader of this here blog, you’ve possibly noticed I’ve been posting a relentless amount of images of busted cars (this car isn’t busted, per se, but is an old vehicle nonetheless). I’m not entirely sure why I’ve been drawn to capturing these images, but the urge remains. It’s a sign of the times, as my buddy Don’t Fret might say. Sure, they are an easy subject but that’s kind of the fun of it.

Two subjects have emerged from this space as likely subjects for potential future photo zine projects:

• Busted Cars (self explanatory)

• Mr Peepers (pets looking out windows)

I’ve been printing at the studio and loving it. While it’s still very much a time-consuming (and expensive!) learning process, I aim to get some personal zine projects in the works in the coming weeks and this gets me excited, even if the subject matter is as simple as this.

Hit the tag link below if you wanna check out the other “busted car” posts and drop a comment below if you have any interest in purchasing zine from me in the future. I’d love to know if I should print one copy or maybe two copies. 😛

-Clayton

2024 06 29

Busted car for the busted car photo collection. Atlanta, Georgia. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Another quick entry today as I have a day filled with social activity (and some work, of course).

More words another time. Enjoy the weekend!

-Clayton

2024 06 23

Busted flat in Atlanta, Georgia. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

It’s summer raining out, which is lovely. We just got back from food at cocktails at the bar. I’m figuring out the next few months. Many things to do. A wedding, for example. Documenting life. Opening a bar, perhaps? Running a studio in a constant state of disrepair. Yes, my brain is everywhere these days.

My parents, lovely as they are, are also older folks who don’t fully understand the value of money these days. Things are expensive. I tell my mom Biden may not be president soon because things are expensive. She doesn’t understand how it’s possible that a hotel room costs as much as it does; how a wedding photographer costs as much as it does. Her son is a photographer, yet the numbers don’t make sense from her perspective. If only she knew what I pay in rent each month.

These things weigh on me, too. Why I’m busting my butt so hard just to make it to another day. As you get older, the pulling yourself up by the bootstraps gets harder. The straps are frayed and your arms are sweaty and weak and you’re a bit drunk to numb the pain, so you forget to tug one day, then another.

The car sits outside, collecting dust. The tire goes flat. The oil dries out. Problems compound and transform into an insurmountable task. Better to forget it exists and put it out of your head. In a few more days time, you’ll have the capacity to deal with it, you tell yourself. The days come and go. More excuses pile up and it becomes easier to bury them deeper than to confront them.

Upstairs, your partner yells to make sure you didn’t doze off on the couch as you typically might. The rain tapping rhythmically doesn’t help. The buzzing alerts on your phone and computer and watch take your focus away.

I think the biggest trick in life is maintaining focus, despite the constant distractions. Finding the flow state and living in it as long as you can. Obviously, this will create other problems for you, such as automobile maintenance and relationship stability. Off to bed, I go.

-Clayton

2024 06 08

Another busted car. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Lately, I’ve been making a lot of images of janky and busted cars. Basically, anytime I encounter one, I snap a photo or two. Why, exactly, I’m not sure, but I like them because they tell a little bit of a story. They make you think a little bit. They are not the same as every other vehicle. They are a sign of the times.

When I was in college I wanted to make a documentary about how terrible cars are. My hatred has cooled a bit, however, I do strongly believe we have shaped our landscape far too much in favor of the automobile. It’s nice that this trend seems to be waning these days, and streetscapes are being remade on a more human level. Let’s hope the trend continues.

-Clayton

2024 05 30

Cars on highway driving into the sunset. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

While on a long jog this morning (brag) I was reminded of something that reeeeally annoyed me before I started driving an electric car (brag).

Running past the abandoned former emissions testing facility in Bucktown where I used to take my Ford Focus, the frustration came back to me and reminded me about why sometimes government logic can be super annoying. Not wanting this to be a political rant, I’ll keep it brief, as I’m likely getting some details wrong anyway since I’m going off years-old memories at this point.

During the previous Illinois (Republican) governor’s term, the state outsourced the operation of all its car emissions testing facilities, likely arguing small-government efficiencies or whatever. Surely, some loyal big shot operator who just so happens to spend big come political donation season got awarded the contract to take over operations of the entire state’s facilities.

One day, I opened my mail to discover it was time to take my trusty Focus in for its test. Unbeknownst to me, the conveniently located facility that was roughly one mile from my house and central to the homes of some 3 million other fellow Chicagoans was no longer an option. Instead, the closest facility to me was now inconveniently located over 10 miles away in suburban Skokie. Confused as to why Chicago (far and away the largest city in the state) no longer had a single facility available to its residents, I did some digging to figure out what was going on. Sure enough, the state outsourced the service, as mentioned, and the new operator was following the state-mandated requirements as efficiently as they could to maximize their profits.

Facilities need to be within x miles of x people, yada yada, plug all the data into the computer and Skokie is now where every Chicagoan needs to drive their car to get an efficiency test to, you know, make sure they aren’t polluting the environment. When you consider the added miles 3 million Chicagoans now need to drive, whatever benefits we are getting from taking a few dirty cars off the road are now likely a net negative because of all the extra driving. Then, when you consider how much money the state is “saving” by outsourcing this service, you need to consider all this extra wear and tear on the roads, additional accidents, wasted hours, etc, from people driving more trips and all those savings likely go out the window as well. Sure, my math is full of guesstimating here, but maybe you see my point.

It’s like government whack-a-mole: solve one problem and create a new, different problem. As long as your doner pals are getting a piece of the public pie, nobody is none the wiser!

-Clayton

2024 04 29

A car rest wrapped in the drive awaiting nicer weather. Peru, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

This website has become a filter of sorts. After making images, they get edited down to my selects, which then get color and tone adjusted and saved into another folder. Then, those selects get edited down again and moved into another folder meant to go towards various social media or websites, including this one. When I go to make a new blog entry, I browse the Pointing at Stuff website folder and see which images are still feeling good enough to post or are no longer feeling as excited and get scrapped.

This image, while a simple moment without much action, is one that I feel good about. It’s a bit of a new perspective for me, taking images of simple moments like this that I come across while out and about. This is not to say I haven’t previously made photos but that my eye is now hunting for “art photos” that may fit into a bigger body of work. Once you combine images and juxtapose different frames, new meanings and vibes get formed which can then be further explored and created upon.

Anyway, none of this may make sense and you may dislike this image, but I’m enjoying my new found perspective on photography and plan to continue pursuing it to see where it takes me.

-Clayton

2024 04 26

Car parked at night. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Sometimes when The Office is on, you get sucked into an Office Hole and forget to finish all the work and blog posts and life stuff that you needed to do. But also sometimes it’s nice to just check out and let your brain decompress for a few hours.

-Clayton

2024 04 17

How’s my driving? Not great! Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Arriving late to my airport-adjacent hotel on a quick work trip, I glance at my phone to see if any food options are still available. Everything closes soon. Luckily, there’s a decently-rated basic grill in the hotel next to mine so I drop my stuff and walk towards it. The parking lots are massive and dark. The hotel looms over the dark horizon but as I get closer it becomes apparent that the entire perimeter of the hotel property I am currently on is fenced in with no pedestrian access. I’m in one of these areas designed fully for car access only.

Instead of giving up and backtracking to go all the way around the complex, I mumble “fuck cars” to myself while scanning the area for any sort of evidence of human foot-based activity. One area back near the dumpsters in the corner is a bit more worn out that the rest with a small gap in between the mature evergreen trees, so I psych myself up to make it happen. As I’m cresting the jagged steel fence, I have a quick vision of catching my foot and falling headfirst into the parking lot cement and needing to come up with some kind of cover story when I meet with the client the following morning because there is no possible way to make this sound not insane should it go wrong.

Luckily, I make it across with only a small cut on my hand, evidence to show the server if the situation calls for a little desperate pleading to get the kitchen to stay open for one last order. Now that the right building is immediately in front of me, the next problem becomes apparent. While, yes, the grill I’m seeking is right on the other side of the wall, I’m now standing in the back lot of the next hotel complex with, again, zero pedestrian access aside from a few emergency only escape doors which I can’t enter. I have a some more thoughts about how much I hate cities designed fully to accomodate cars as I walk all the way around the building and inside, my journey now complete.

They’re still serving, although the menu is limited to four items. I order the house burger and think about how old we are getting as I watch Lebron James’ Lakers win a play in game and a consistent stream of people wander in looking for food themselves, most holding airline vouchers that seem to be as valuable as cash in these parts.

Now, I’m back on my hotel bed reviewing casting callbacks while typing out this monotonous story-of-my-night without any sort of lesson, purpose, or deeper meaning. Let’s land the plane, Clayton!

When airplanes aren’t falling apart mid-flight, modern air travel is a remarkable human achievement. Merely a few hours ago, I was back home in Chicago meeting with a rabbi about our upcoming wedding ceremony and now I’m hopping a fence in search of a cheeseburger in a city 700 miles away, while the most interesting thing in my afternoon wasn’t browsing the internet 35,000 feet in the sky, or riding the automated airport train, or moving through mid air at 580 miles per hour.

The most interesting thing was, upon leaving to walk back to my hotel, again getting stuck in this new hotel’s parking lot only to run into a security guard who told me the only way to exit on foot is in the exact opposite direction I needed to go. Fucking cars! Seeing my frustration, he asked where I was headed, to which I pointed up at the building right across the alley from where we were. He told me to go back into the hotel, cut down a hallway, and go through the doors marked Employees Only, then out the back exit. I’m not usually one to disobey the honor system no access warnings but given permission by the parking lot security guard, this was my ticket to adventure! Thanks Sonesta Atlanta Airport North for a solid burger, back-stage access, and a shortcut which saved me 6 minutes of walking which I could then sink into writing this remarkable retelling.

-Clayton

2024 03 19

Damaged car situation somewhere in Chicago. September, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

It used to be things were messy. These days, everything is clean, sleek and easy! Of course, this isn’t the case, we’ve just become better at hiding the messy bits behind a fascade.

The Disneyfication of America, if you will. Apple is a shining example. PCs used to be complicated until Apple made it easy. All the system files and folders are hidden behind a digital curtain which you can only peek behind if you know the secret access door. We don’t trust you with those files. It’s plug and play! Granted, this approach makes a lot of sense and has been wildly successful. It is the better way—until it’s not. Until your system has crashed and you now don’t know a thing about it and are therefore reliant on the Genius Bar to come to your rescue and free your important business documents from digital purgatory.

Today, I walked to work after being unable to charge my electric vehicle for reasons unknown. File a service request and move on. It’s a fun car, though! Not a button in sight!

Arriving at work, I go to turn on some music but my fancy wireless speakers don’t work because the Sonos app can’t update and is stuck in a doom loop of saying it needs to update, followed by a failed update with no further information. File a service request and head to the daily photo blog to vent about it.

In a way, it’s a nice reminder that while things may appear orderly and structured, there’s still a mess behind the scenes.

Don’t becomes fully dependent on the Genius Bar. Stay messy.

-Clayton

2024 03 09

Car under wraps in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Uh oh — I’m out of buffer! The wrap on my brain is being revealed to show I’ve run out of ideas only a few month’s into this project!

Well, not really, but finding the time to do a daily post is proving to be more time consuming than I’d anticipated. I’m aiming to avoid simply plopping down an image with a meaningless sentence, but creating posts with deeper meaning is time consuming. If only we had a way to automate this process! (Kidding. That’s what AI is and yes I’m still obsessing over it and how it is coming for all of our jobs).

Enjoy the weekend. I’m off to think up more thoughts (have plenty of pictures).

-Clayton

2024 01 27

Steubenville, Ohio. November, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

Be the Mysterious Artist.

I am not the mysterious artist. I am the oversharing, throw it all against the wall and see what sticks, just happy to be here artist. I’m not sure I’ll ever be the mysterious artist but I do see the appeal. Anyway, enjoy the daily photo!

-Clayton

PS in college I worked at a local video store and, as the youngest employee at the store (that was 85% porn), I was always intimidated by what the other employees liked or listened to. Don’t get me wrong, my Employee Picks section was pretty fire, but in terms of music I’d typically let the others lead the way. One guy would listen to Tom Waits a lot and this track always stuck out to me as being so moody and cool.

2024 01 18

Car in front of house just outside Chicago, Illinois. November, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

Important Announcement: For the second annual year, our Personal Anthem is…

Stay Positive by The Hold Steady

In anticipation of *gestures broadly,* we feel the need to maintain our continual reminder that we, indeed, gotta stay positive. We’re getting older but have some things to be proud of. The kids are doing things differently but let’s be real, deep down they appreciate our contributions in years past and we can learn from how they are doing things differently. We acknowledge that sometimes we run short on options and go with the quick fix — we’re only human, after all.

To be candid: 2023 was the most challenging year of my professional career. Early on, I assigned myself this song to help see me through; a constant reminder that things ebb & flow and sustained success isn’t always a realistic outcome in life and esp. not in the world of commercial photography. In years past, I kept my overhead low and weathered the downtime by simply not paying any attention to it! Reading, travel, movies, etc all became my go-to time fillers and distractions. What changed is that last year my overhead ballooned dramatically as I had studio rent to pay each & every month no matter how few assignments were coming in. This directly led to me associating things like casual magazine reading, a healthy and important aspect of my life in years prior, as a harmful & lazy distraction in a never-ending quest to shovel more coal into the furnace to keep the train moving (make money, honey). I’m dramatizing a bit for effect, sure, but the sentiment is accurate and understanding is the first step toward recovery. Don’t forget to be kind to yourself!

You gotta stay positive — not by force but in your core perspective on living. Prisoners of war survive when they keep their mental state in balance and don’t slack on the little things, that, in context have no real value, such as shaving and keeping up appearances for themselves.

Stay positive,

-Clayton

2024 01 08

Water on car. December, 2023. Chicago. © Clayton Hauck

Part of what I’ve been photographing a lot lately has been more abstract, textured images to use as backdrops for my “Keep it 100” portrait sessions[1], where the background changes every second, cycling through various images I’ve made recently. Before doing these sessions on a regular basis, this is a moment I would've passed over. Is it a stunning image? No, but it does have a lil something going for it… and it’s fun to incorporate as one detail in a more detail-dense portrait.

It’s easy to make a good image, the hard part is figuring out what to do with it. I’m still figuring that bit out myself and likely always will be.

-Clayton

[1] inspired by artist Jeremy Cowart