2024 11 11
Itās been a minute since Iāve done a proper Life Update and this week will be no different, however, the topic loosely applies. Iām in the early phase of a Pivot to Video, largely spurred by a collapse in demand for commercial photography, but also aided by a lifelong love of video and filmmaking (itās complicated why Iām not already more focused on it). In this phase, Iām spending a lot of time watching youtube videos. I swear, itās productiveā¦ at least to an extent. Film school is what I keep calling it. Realistically, thereās just a lot of new shit that I need to get up to speed on. Of course, Iām well aware that the only way to be successful at this new venture is not by watching videos but by doing it. Every damn day.
Most, if not all, of the credit to my success in commercial photography can be summed up by putting in the work. Spending the time. Consistent focus and dedication.
In my recent film schooling sessions, I came across a channel by DP Luc Forsyth because he did some camera tests I was curious about. Digging deeper into his channel, I watched this video linked below, which so brilliantly summed up these ideas on success within the industry, ideas I already fully agree with and believe in, but ideas I found interesting specifically because he put them in terms of growing his youtube channel as a working DP. This idea of starting a channel is one Iāve been dwelling on for years now, without taking the leap, mostly because I fully understand the challenges involved. Itās frustrating when I post some photos on Threads and they get zero likes. Itās frustrating when I post a blog to give away a print and get zero engagement. Itās likely far more frustrating to spend hours or your life painstakingly crafting and posting videos for them to go completely ignored by the eight or so billion people living in this world.
Luc summed up his growth projections so well and accurately:
1 year of weekly posting = 1,000 subscribers
2 years of weekly posting = 10,000 subscribers
3 years of weekly posting = 100,000 subscribers
This chart is the sole reason I donāt yet have a youtube channel. I know in my bones itās accurate, if not optimistic, and the sheer amount of time, energy, effort and focus required to put towards making a new video each and every week, without fail, is daunting. The idea that committing to this for a full year, after which you may get you a thousand subs is almost comical. But thatās not the reason to do it. Itās for year three. Year ten. Year twenty.
Iām already in my forties so the feeling that itās now or never, the feeling that Iām running short on time is very real and the biggest thing holding me back from going all-in on video. I still love still photography as well and not yet fully convinced I canāt make it work for another twenty years. Anyway, these are the things I am spending a lot of time thinking about lately.
-Clayton
To be great it takes years of consistent dedication. Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga photographed during a portrait shoot for Chicago Magazine at Wrigley Field. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās been a minute since Iāve done a proper Life Update and this week will be no different, however, the topic loosely applies. Iām in the early phase of a Pivot to Video, largely spurred by a collapse in demand for commercial photography, but also aided by a lifelong love of video and filmmaking (itās complicated why Iām not already more focused on it). In this phase, Iām spending a lot of time watching youtube videos. I swear, itās productiveā¦ at least to an extent. Film school is what I keep calling it. Realistically, thereās just a lot of new shit that I need to get up to speed on. Of course, Iām well aware that the only way to be successful at this new venture is not by watching videos but by doing it. Every damn day.
Most, if not all, of the credit to my success in commercial photography can be summed up by putting in the work. Spending the time. Consistent focus and dedication.
In my recent film schooling sessions, I came across a channel by DP Luc Forsyth because he did some camera tests I was curious about. Digging deeper into his channel, I watched this video linked below, which so brilliantly summed up these ideas on success within the industry, ideas I already fully agree with and believe in, but ideas I found interesting specifically because he put them in terms of growing his youtube channel as a working DP. This idea of starting a channel is one Iāve been dwelling on for years now, without taking the leap, mostly because I fully understand the challenges involved. Itās frustrating when I post some photos on Threads and they get zero likes. Itās frustrating when I post a blog to give away a print and get zero engagement. Itās likely far more frustrating to spend hours or your life painstakingly crafting and posting videos for them to go completely ignored by the eight or so billion people living in this world.
Luc summed up his growth projections so well and accurately:
1 year of weekly posting = 1,000 subscribers
2 years of weekly posting = 10,000 subscribers
3 years of weekly posting = 100,000 subscribers
This chart is the sole reason I donāt yet have a youtube channel. I know in my bones itās accurate, if not optimistic, and the sheer amount of time, energy, effort and focus required to put towards making a new video each and every week, without fail, is daunting. The idea that committing to this for a full year, after which you may get you a thousand subs is almost comical. But thatās not the reason to do it. Itās for year three. Year ten. Year twenty.
Iām already in my forties so the feeling that itās now or never, the feeling that Iām running short on time is very real and the biggest thing holding me back from going all-in on video. I still love still photography as well and not yet fully convinced I canāt make it work for another twenty years. Anyway, these are the things I am spending a lot of time thinking about lately.
-Clayton
2024 08 23
I woke up this morning after an exhausting day of photography yesterday. My 5:30am call-time to location an hour away without traffic meant a 3:30am wake up and only a few hours of non-consecutive sleep. This sort of approach works once in a while but is impossible to sustain. I woke up this morning (luckily today is an off day which I will use to catch up on everything before leaving town tomorrow morning for another gig out east) and my phone showed me some interesting thoughts from Haruki Murakami on writing:
I get up early and focus solely on writing for five to six hours every single day. Thinking that hard and long about things, your brain gets overheated (with my scalp literally getting hot at times), so after that I need to give my head a rest. That's why I spend my afternoons napping, enjoying music, reading innocuous books. That kind of life, though, gets you out of shape physically, so every day I spend about an hour outdoors exercising. That sets me up for the next day's work. Day after day, without exception, I repeat this cycle.
Murakami is clearly dedicated to his craft and committed enough to stick to such a rigid routine. Comparing this to myself, I do agree that a large part of why Iāve been relatively successful as a photographer is because Iāve allocated a huge amount of my time to the craft. Day after day, year after year, relentless taking, making, editing, and looking at photos. I am not as focused as Murakami, though, and have an endless succession of new hobbies and side projects to distract me. These things likely also keep me sane and able to continue making photography my main career, but I do also wonder if they restrict me from getting to an ultimately higher place within the filed. While itās nice to make a living from the craft, my real end goal is to achieve something more, and previously I was not on any sort of path to do this. Iām not sure I am now either but am, at least, considering this.
He went on:
I'm a very patient type of person, I think, when it comes to that kind of process. Still, at times I do get fed up with it and hate it. But as I work away, persevering day after dayālike a bricklayer carefully laying one brick on top of anotherāI reach a certain point where I get the definite feeling that when all is said and done, a writer is exactly what I am. And I accept that feeling as something good, something to be celebrated. The slogan of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) in the US is "One day at a time," and that's exactly what this is like. Maintaining a set rhythm, steadily hauling in one day after the other and sending them on their way. Silently continue to do this and at a certain point something happens inside you. But it takes time to reach this point.
One day at a time, Clayton. One day at a time. I am a photographer. Who also wants to be a writer, and a bar owner, and a director, and a venue manager, and a youtuber, and a podcaster, and a blogger, and a journalist, and a musician, and an arborist. I am a photographer. One day at a time.
-Clayton
Chef Christian Hunter of Atelier. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
I woke up early yesterday morning for an exhausting day of photography. My 5:30am call-time to location an hour away without traffic meant a 3:30am wake up and only a few hours of non-consecutive sleep. This sort of approach works once in a while but is impossible to sustain. I woke up this morning (luckily today is an off day which I will use to catch up on everything before leaving town tomorrow morning for another gig out east) and my phone showed me some interesting thoughts from Haruki Murakami on writing:
I get up early and focus solely on writing for five to six hours every single day. Thinking that hard and long about things, your brain gets overheated (with my scalp literally getting hot at times), so after that I need to give my head a rest. That's why I spend my afternoons napping, enjoying music, reading innocuous books. That kind of life, though, gets you out of shape physically, so every day I spend about an hour outdoors exercising. That sets me up for the next day's work. Day after day, without exception, I repeat this cycle.
Murakami is clearly dedicated to his craft and committed enough to stick to such a rigid routine. Comparing this to myself, I do agree that a large part of why Iāve been relatively successful as a photographer is because Iāve allocated a huge amount of my time to the craft. Day after day, year after year, relentless taking, making, editing, and looking at photos. I am not as focused as Murakami, though, and have an endless succession of new hobbies and side projects to distract me. These things likely also keep me sane and able to continue making photography my main career, but I do also wonder if they restrict me from getting to an ultimately higher place within the filed. While itās nice to make a living from the craft, my real end goal is to achieve something more, and previously I was not on any sort of path to do this. Iām not sure I am now either but am, at least, considering this.
He went on:
I'm a very patient type of person, I think, when it comes to that kind of process. Still, at times I do get fed up with it and hate it. But as I work away, persevering day after dayālike a bricklayer carefully laying one brick on top of anotherāI reach a certain point where I get the definite feeling that when all is said and done, a writer is exactly what I am. And I accept that feeling as something good, something to be celebrated. The slogan of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) in the US is "One day at a time," and that's exactly what this is like. Maintaining a set rhythm, steadily hauling in one day after the other and sending them on their way. Silently continue to do this and at a certain point something happens inside you. But it takes time to reach this point.
One day at a time, Clayton. One day at a time. I am a photographer. Who also wants to be a writer, and a bar owner, and a director, and a venue manager, and a youtuber, and a podcaster, and a blogger, and a journalist, and a musician, and an arborist. I am a photographer. One day at a time.
-Clayton
2024 06 02
Hello. I made this image while on assignment for a Chicago Magazine Best New Restaurants feature. They didnāt end up running any of the images I made at this restaurant, which is always a bit of a bummer, but I was quite happy with a few of them, esp the candid kitchen shots like this one. It wasnāt quite what the magazine wanted and I really only spent the time doing it while we waited for the dining room to fill up some more.
I need to get back out here and try their food. The bites the owner forced me to try were very delicious!
-Clayton
Chef Matteo Lo Bianco of Maman Zari. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Hello. I made this image while on assignment for a Chicago Magazine Best New Restaurants feature. They didnāt end up running any of the images I made at this restaurant, which is always a bit of a bummer, but I was quite happy with a few of them, esp the candid kitchen shots like this one. It wasnāt quite what the magazine wanted and I really only spent the time doing it while we waited for the dining room to fill up some more.
I need to get back out here and try their food. The bites the owner forced me to try were very delicious!
-Clayton
2024 05 22
I donāt want this space to turn into a place where Iām regularly pulling from the archives, however, when I heard on NPR this morning that today marks the first ever day in which the Chicago Tribune was not printed in the city of Chicago (the plant was sold to make way for a casinoā¦maybe!), it reminded me of a Chicago Magazine assignment from nearly a decade ago now (yikes) in which I got an amazing behind-the-scenes tour of the printing press facilities.
Itās forever my favorite thing about being a photographer: the peek into a world Iād otherwise never get to experience, even if only for an hour. You could feel the years of history coating the surfaces in this place; ink and gunk collecting over decades. You could also sense the end of an era; empty spaces once full of people and materials now a victim of dwindling news print capacity. Soon the wrecking ball will come and a bland mid-tear casino will rise in its place. Maybe.
-Clayton
Chicago Tribune printing press technician works in the now-defunct Chicago plant. April, 2016. Ā© Clayton Hauck
I donāt want this space to turn into a place where Iām regularly pulling from the archives, however, when I heard on NPR this morning that today marks the first ever day in which the Chicago Tribune was not printed in the city of Chicago (the plant was sold to make way for a casinoā¦maybe!), it reminded me of a Chicago Magazine assignment from nearly a decade ago now (yikes) in which I got an amazing behind-the-scenes tour of the printing press facilities.
Itās forever my favorite thing about being a photographer: the peek into a world Iād otherwise never get to experience, even if only for an hour. You could feel the years of history coating the surfaces in this place; ink and gunk collecting over decades. You could also sense the end of an era; empty spaces once full of people and materials now a victim of dwindling news print capacity. Soon the wrecking ball will come and a bland mid-tear casino will rise in its place. Maybe.
-Clayton
2024 04 22
Today I will wrap principal photography (haha) on a new cookbook due out later this year. The whole process was a big learning experience which maybe Iāll get into more detail about down the road. Despite the challenges, it kind of lit a fire under my butt to make more work that will be printed in book form; be it a cookbook, photobook, zine, whatever.
Time to buy myself a printer and print more of my photos. Itās been something Iāve severely neglected through the course of my career in photography.
-Clayton
A plate of fancy food photographed for Chicago Magazine at Atelier, Chicago. February, 2024.
Today I will wrap principal photography (haha) on a new cookbook due out later this year. The whole process was a big learning experience which maybe Iāll get into more detail about down the road. Despite the challenges, it kind of lit a fire under my butt to make more work that will be printed in book form; be it a cookbook, photobook, zine, whatever.
Time to buy myself a printer and print more of my photos. Itās been something Iāve severely neglected through the course of my career in photography.
-Clayton
2024 03 26
One of my favorite podcasts is Joiners, in part because they chat with local Chicago hospitality personalities (many of which I personally know), but also because they do a great job of covering a diverse lineup of people from all different perspectives of the industry. Recently, this episode linked below stood out to me in large part due to the portion of the conversation where they discuss finances, insurance, taxes, government bureaucracy, and all these things most of us artists cringe about but are required to deal with. Owner Jason Vincent of some favorite Chicago spots went deep into his frustrations revolving around operating at a higher price point in order to help cover expenses such as employee health insurance.
After listening, the following morning a newsletter by Allison Schrager hit my inbox which touched on the same themes and helped me connect the dots a bit more:
When we look at estimates of food prices moderating it does not tell us the whole story because eating out has become important to many peopleās quality of life. In the last century, many once luxuries became common. Dining out used to only be a special occasion thing that now many households of all income levels do regularly. And that made lots of people happy. So did other services that became common in the last twenty yearsālike ride shares and fast-free delivery of everything (and seamless returns).
A tight labor market and rising minimum wages mean many services weāve taken for granted are now a struggle, and that will mean people feel poorer because the things they enjoy cost much more.
Inflation is something weāre all sensitive to and is perhaps most easily noticed when dining out. Customers getting shitty about restaurants raising prices to pay for things like health insurance is understandable in part because, yes, some owners are doing it in bad faith, and because higher prices means less eating out so people are sensitive to it generally, but for the owners like Jason who are trying to do the right thing and create a working environment that is fair for his staff, itās easy to see how this whole situation might be incredibly demoralizing for many restaurant operators. Rents are up, food prices are up, labor costs are up, (my hospitality prices are up), so itās only logical that prices will need to increase significantly to cover all these new costs.
I have no grand takeaway from all this, but a better understanding of an industry I partially rely on to make a living. The food scene has exploded in recent years with new bars and restaurants opening seemingly every week. It will be interesting to see if this huge growth in a relatively-new industry can be maintained now that pricing realities are catching up to it or if people will go back to making more of their meals at home to help offset rising prices that donāt seem capable of going back down.
-Clayton
Chefs at Maman Zari prepare dishes for diners. Photo made as part of a Best New Restaurants spread for Chicago Magazine. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
One of my favorite podcasts is Joiners, in part because they chat with local Chicago hospitality personalities (many of which I personally know), but also because they do a great job of covering a diverse lineup of people from all different perspectives of the industry. Recently, this episode linked below stood out to me in large part due to the portion of the conversation where they discuss finances, insurance, taxes, government bureaucracy, and all these things most of us creative types cringe about but are also forced to deal with. Owner Jason Vincent of some favorite Chicago spots went deep into his frustrations revolving around operating at a higher price point in order to help cover expenses such as employee health insurance.
After listening, the following morning a newsletter by Allison Schrager hit my inbox which touched on the same themes and helped me connect the dots a bit more:
When we look at estimates of food prices moderating it does not tell us the whole story because eating out has become important to many peopleās quality of life. In the last century, many once luxuries became common. Dining out used to only be a special occasion thing that now many households of all income levels do regularly. And that made lots of people happy. So did other services that became common in the last twenty yearsālike ride shares and fast-free delivery of everything (and seamless returns).
A tight labor market and rising minimum wages mean many services weāve taken for granted are now a struggle, and that will mean people feel poorer because the things they enjoy cost much more.
Inflation is something weāre all sensitive to and is perhaps most easily noticed when dining out. Customers getting shitty about restaurants raising prices to pay for things like health insurance is understandable in part because, yes, some owners are doing it in bad faith, and because higher prices means less eating out so people are sensitive to it generally, but for the owners like Jason who are trying to do the right thing and create a working environment that is fair for his staff, itās easy to see how this whole situation might be incredibly demoralizing for many restaurant operators. In out new fully globalized world, diners and consumers have been conditioned to seek out the lowest prices, regardless of how they get low, often without considering the tradeoff they are making in pursuit of that cheap mega meal. Rents are up, food prices are up, labor costs are up, (my hospitality photography prices are up), so itās only logical that prices will need to increase significantly to cover all these new costs.
I have no grand takeaway from all this, but a better understanding of an industry I partially rely on to make a living. The food scene has exploded in recent years with new bars and restaurants opening seemingly every week. So many people now rely on restaurant work to make a living as these jobs are no longer fringe positions, rather a significant portion of the modern workforce with wages often reflecting a previous era. It will be interesting to see if this huge growth in a relatively-new industry can be maintained now that pricing realities are catching up to it or if people will go back to making more of their meals at home to help offset rising prices that donāt seem capable of going back down.
-Clayton
2024 03 16
Last last year, I covered this assignment for Chicago Magazine where I spent three days with knife maker Sam Goldbroch in his studio outside of Chicago while he made a custom chefās knife from scratch. It was a cool experience and I was really happy with the images I came away with, however, it left me thinking the still photos were a bit less effective than perhaps a well-made video would be in showing viewers the entire process from start to finish, having just experienced it myself in person.
Flash forward to now, after the Chicago piece ran, seeing an email from my uncle with a link to a really well done video featuring Anthony Bourdain in his visit to another bladesmith, Bob Kramer. That video can be viewed below and is worth a watch while also serving a sad reminder of how much I miss Anthony Bourdain.
-Clayton
Bladesmith Sam Goldborch in his studio in Skokie, Illinois. September, 2023. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Late last year, I covered this assignment for Chicago Magazine where I spent three days with knife maker Sam Goldbroch in his studio outside of Chicago while he made a custom chefās knife from scratch. It was a cool experience and I was really happy with the images I came away with, however, it left me thinking the still photos were a bit less effective than perhaps a well-made video would be in showing viewers the entire process from start to finish, having just experienced it myself in person.
Flash forward to now, after the Chicago piece ran, seeing an email from my uncle with a link to a really well done video featuring Anthony Bourdain in his visit to another bladesmith, Bob Kramer. That video can be viewed below and is worth a watch while also serving a sad reminder of how much I miss Anthony Bourdain.
-Clayton
ā”ļø Click here to see the Chicago Magazine piece
ā”ļø Click here to see more of my photos from the shoot