2024 11 08
Thereās this thing that happens when you (or, me, I should clarify) walk into any bar in rural Illinois. Itās the stereotypical record scratch you see on television. An instantaneous recognition from everyone inside that an outsider has entered. Things go quiet for a brief moment, which can feel like eternity depending on your level of anxiety, as you make your way inside, assessing which seat might be least awkward to claim for yourself.
My goal is to eventually embody a presence that goes largely unnoticed in these situations. Currently, my city-slicker outsider vibe is far too strong to go unnoticed, which is a bit unfortunate because I take blending in to my environment very seriously. Iāve long thought observation to be one of, if not my most important strengths. I can use it to my advantage in my pursuits of photography, and now writing.
A week ago I drove down south with Lincoln, Illinois in my crosshairs. I spent the day wandering and photographing various towns along the way. Itās endlessly remarkable to me how many towns exist which feel completely lost to time.
Two larger takeaways occurred to me on this day:
One: my still-vaguely defined āIllinois Projectā photobook was the main motivator for this trip. I havenāt been putting enough time into it and Iāve hit some snags in the process. Iām finding much of the work Iāve made has been too wide. Landscapes, mostly, devoid of people and any intimacy. One goal on this specific day was to involve humans in my work. The challenge was finding people ā any people. There just arenāt many people out here wandering these towns and rural places, meaning the images I have forming in my head would likely require me to āproduceā them by bringing people along with me. Iām not sure this is the route I want to take. Perhaps, I should lean into the desolation and capture a more true-to-life portrait of a place? The worry is that much like these empty towns themselves, most people will not be interested in seeing this work, and thatās the opposite of my goal. I want people to see the beauty in these places, and therefore Iām thinking I should instead begin to share the work more widely as I make it, instead of squirreling it away on hard drives for some hypothetical future date when I will do a show or release a book. My inbox helped me come to this conclusion after getting another gem of a piece from Meaghan Garveyās substack Scary Cool Sad Goodbye, in which she so beautifully captures the spirit of the Midwest through her adventures. Now, Iām thinking a more ongoing web presence, in some form, is a better way to go about this project, as I learn what this project even is. Ill Wandering.
Two: I have a vision in my head of a Plan For a New Illinois. This plan, while likely an impossible pipe dream, would see massive resources and money directed at Central Illinois with the goal of increasing the regionās population to three times what it is now, at roughly 2 million people. Perhaps I will post the Plan here for my tens of readers to check out! Maybe one of yāall knows the governor and can send it along to him. While itās clear Illinois is broken in many ways, it also gets a lot of over-dramatic hate tossed its way. That said, Iām not sure an influx of more people is the fix we need. Places like Austin, Texas lose what made them great as a glut of tech money and influence bros move in and completely change the dynamic of a place. This weekās election has muddied my vision as well. I get frustrated seeing places that are so clearly past their prime, and my instinct is to shine a light on them and figure out ways to help them prosper once again. But now, Iām not sure more people or more attention is what these places want. Itās likely the exact opposite (worth exploring in this project of mine, perhaps!).
-Clayton
Majestic Theater. Past its prime. Streator, Illinois. November, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Thereās this thing that happens when you (or, me, I should clarify) walk into any bar in rural Illinois. Itās the stereotypical record scratch you see on television. An instantaneous recognition from everyone inside that an outsider has entered. Things go quiet for a brief moment, which can feel like eternity depending on your level of anxiety, as you make your way inside, assessing which seat might be least awkward to claim for yourself.
My goal is to eventually embody a presence that goes largely unnoticed in these situations. Currently, my city-slicker outsider vibe is far too strong to go unnoticed, which is a bit unfortunate because I take blending in to my environment very seriously. Iāve long thought observation to be one of, if not my most important strengths. I can use it to my advantage in my pursuits of photography, and now writing.
A week ago I drove down south with Lincoln, Illinois in my crosshairs. I spent the day wandering and photographing various towns along the way. Itās endlessly remarkable to me how many towns exist which feel completely lost to time.
Two larger takeaways occurred to me on this day:
One: my still-vaguely defined āIllinois Projectā photobook was the main motivator for this trip. I havenāt been putting enough time into it and Iāve hit some snags in the process. Iām finding much of the work Iāve made has been too wide. Landscapes, mostly, devoid of people and any intimacy. One goal on this specific day was to involve humans in my work. The challenge was finding people ā any people. There just arenāt many people out here wandering these towns and rural places, meaning the images I have forming in my head would likely require me to āproduceā them by bringing people along with me. Iām not sure this is the route I want to take. Perhaps, I should lean into the desolation and capture a more true-to-life portrait of a place? The worry is that much like these empty towns themselves, most people will not be interested in seeing this work, and thatās the opposite of my goal. I want people to see the beauty in these places, and therefore Iām thinking I should instead begin to share the work more widely as I make it, instead of squirreling it away on hard drives for some hypothetical future date when I will do a show or release a book.
My inbox helped me come to this conclusion after getting another gem of a piece from Meaghan Garveyās substack Scary Cool Sad Goodbye, in which she so beautifully captures the spirit of the Midwest through her adventures. Now, Iām thinking a more ongoing web presence, in some form, is a better way to go about this project, as I learn what this project even is. Ill Wandering.
Two: I have a vision in my head of a Plan For a New Illinois. This plan, while likely an impossible pipe dream, would see massive resources and money directed at Central Illinois with the goal of increasing the regionās population to three times what it is now, at roughly 2 million people. Perhaps I will post the Plan here for my tens of readers to check out! Maybe one of yāall knows the governor and can send it along to him. While itās clear Illinois is broken in many ways, it also gets a lot of over-dramatic hate tossed its way. That said, Iām not sure an influx of more people is the fix we need. Places like Austin, Texas largely lose what made them great, as a glut of tech money and influence bros move in and completely change the dynamic of the place.
This weekās election has muddied my vision as well. I get frustrated seeing places that are so clearly past their prime, and my instinct is to shine a light on them and figure out ways to help them prosper once again. But now, Iām not sure more people or more attention is what these places want. Itās likely the exact opposite (worth exploring in this project of mine, perhaps!).
-Clayton
2024 08 12
Hereās a lil sneak peek post. I had grand ambitions this year to work on a personal photo project, with the aim of turning the work into a photobook, coveringā¦ Illinois. There was no specific vision or goal but more of a visual exploration of the state outside of Chicago (getting to every county outside of Cook was the rough idea). This year has been way busier than anticipated so the amount of time Iāve been able to invest in this project has been far less than Iād wanted. That said, Iām fine with this becoming more of a longer-term ongoing project, which surely will evolve along with myself as the days and years pass.
Iāll write more about this in the future but perhaps the biggest internal struggle Iāve been having has been regarding what the vibe of the project should be. Do I want it to be more artistic, ambiguous, aesthetic or do I want it to be more photojournalistic, authentic, approachable? My worry is that turning this project into a ātour of Illinoisā farmland wonāt be all that exciting and Iām getting the sense I need to tap into the human element as much as, if not more than, the natural landscapes. This photo is beautiful and the tree is incredible, but is a book full of this kind of stuff really worth all the effort? I think it needs to evolve into something capturing a more deeper meaning.
-Clayton
The sun sets over farmland outside Onarga, Illinois. June, 2024.
Hereās a lil sneak peek post. I had grand ambitions this year to work on a personal photo project, with the aim of turning the work into a photobook, coveringā¦ Illinois. There was no specific vision or goal but more of a visual exploration of the state outside of Chicago (getting to every county outside of Cook was the rough idea). This year has been way busier than anticipated so the amount of time Iāve been able to invest in this project has been far less than Iād wanted. That said, Iām fine with this becoming more of a longer-term ongoing project, which surely will evolve along with myself as the days and years pass.
Iāll write more about this in the future but perhaps the biggest internal struggle Iāve been having has been regarding what the vibe of the project should be. Do I want it to be more artistic, ambiguous, aesthetic or do I want it to be more photojournalistic, authentic, approachable? My worry is that turning this project into a ātour of Illinoisā farmland wonāt be all that exciting and Iām getting the sense I need to tap into the human element as much as, if not more than, the natural landscapes. This photo is beautiful and the tree is incredible, but is a book full of this kind of stuff really worth all the effort? I think it needs to evolve into something capturing a more deeper meaning.
Iād love to open up more of a dialogue on this here blog so if youāre seeing this and have some thoughts, whatever they may be, I encourage you to jot them down into the comment section below!
-Clayton