2024 10 25
Today’s picture comes from the future! This is because I posted it the day after I was supposed to. Don’t tell anyone.
Depending on how you look at it, though, it was actually early. People seeing this post from a far-away galaxy won’t have access for it for perhaps millions of years.
My audience is huge on Planet Clayborg in the Zxx3 system.
-Clayton
Star-filled night sky over St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Today’s picture comes from the future! This is because I posted it the day after I was supposed to. Don’t tell anyone.
Depending on how you look at it, though, it was actually early. People seeing this post from a far-away galaxy won’t have access for it for perhaps millions of years.
My audience is huge on Planet Clayborg in the Zxx3 system.
-Clayton
2024 10 03
One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.
Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.
-Clayton
Brian setting up his telescope. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.
Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.
-Clayton
2024 10 01
Notes From a Podcast (a semi-regular ongoing series??)
PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf episode 82 - Matthew Genitempo
While editing an endless pool of images, I often listen to Sasha’s great podcast full of interviews with fine art photographers (is there a better label than fine art photographer? photographer, I guess?). I feel the need to specify: not commercial photography, which is what I’m personally more familiar with. This was a standout episode and very much worth a listen, however the following things stood out prominently.
One: Matthew said he gives himself a geographical boundary and then goes out to make work and see what comes back; see what the pictures are telling him, instead of going out and trying to illustrate a picture he has in his head. His recent book project (Dogbreath) was made in Tuscon, Arizona because he was drawn to the distinct sunlight quality and unique urban setting (you see things that are new to you and it sparks your imagination). He visited a school and found the local photo students were not as excited about their own familiar city as he was. Each morning, he’d begin his day with a jog and use it to scout the territory and even meet people that became subjects in the book.
I love all of this and strongly agree with the sentiments. My own personal project began this year with “Illinois outside of Cook County” as my boundaries. Quickly, I’ve learned these boundaries are likely too large, however, I’ve also been listening to what the images are telling me, and themes and ideas are slowly emerging and my approach is adapting. Hopefully next year I will have more time to dedicate to this project, but I loved hearing and learning from Matthew’s experiences in his existing book projects.
Two: Sasha made an amazing baseball player slump analogy. When a player isn’t performing, usually either their mechanics are off or they are pressing. They are trying to hard and overthinking it, instead of going on instinct. An artist works best under the same circumstances. Let the ball come to you and make contact. Don’t force it.
This analogy is amazing and I strongly agree with it. The other day, I was discussing my approach with a friend and explaining to him how, on my smaller shoots, I operate mostly on feel, while doing everything myself. Lights go up, find an angle, find a power setting to match some settings on the camera, ambient lights are considered, emotions of the subject are considered, etc, etc, all mostly on auto-pilot. Comparing this to approach to my commercial jobs, where the final direction and style are usually pre-determined and there is a crew constantly awaiting your direction isn’t always an easy task for me, because my intuition is to feel it out first, then act.
Three: There’s a quote from Judith Joy Ross that Matthew loves and thinks of as one of the formative ways he looks at photography and helped open him up: “I have a large beautiful wooden camera. I’m a quick talker and I can convince people in a few seconds because I’m sincerely interested in them, but I am more interested in capturing what I see in them. It’s not that I want to be their friend, it’s that I see their life and it’s amazing and I want to put it in an image. It’s a short but deep connection. Then I go back to being alone, but have one more lighting bug in a bottle. One more piece of evidence as to who we are.
This is beautiful and I aim to internalize this sentiment and allow it to help me in my process. Often, my instinct is to make photographs of people without them being aware of it. This is an approach which is increasingly frowned upon my a society sensitive to a constant and over-bearing surveillance. I love the idea of better connecting with my subjects and then lowering the barriers to allow them to be themselves. This is my approach on every commercial project I undertake and there’s no reason I can’t also bring it into my personal work. Even if it takes more effort and won’t always work, I think it’s worth the effort.
Two final details that I jotted down and enjoyed:
Robert Adams talks about “the gift picture” … one image that sort of ties a project together and you can work off of.
Sasha: “There’s drudgery in every dream job” … on packing books into boxes all, day, long. Or, in my case, committing to write daily about it all.
-Clayton
Moonlight over the horizon. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Notes From a Podcast (a semi-regular ongoing series??)
PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf episode 82 - Matthew Genitempo
While editing an endless pool of images, I often listen to Sasha’s great podcast full of interviews with fine art photographers (is there a better label than fine art photographer? photographer, I guess?). I feel the need to specify: not commercial photography, which is what I’m personally more familiar with. This was a standout episode and very much worth a listen, however the following things stood out prominently.
One: Matthew said he gives himself a geographical boundary and then goes out to make work and see what comes back; see what the pictures are telling him, instead of going out and trying to illustrate a picture he has in his head. His recent book project (Dogbreath) was made in Tucson, Arizona because he was drawn to the distinct sunlight quality and unique urban setting (you see things that are new to you and it sparks your imagination). He visited a school and found the local photo students were not as excited about their own familiar city as he was. Each morning, he’d begin his day with a jog and use it to scout the territory and even meet people that became subjects in the book.
I love all of this and strongly agree with the sentiments. My own personal project began this year with “Illinois outside of Cook County” as my boundaries. Quickly, I’ve learned these boundaries are likely too large, however, I’ve also been listening to what the images are telling me, and themes and ideas are slowly emerging and my approach is adapting. Hopefully next year I will have more time to dedicate to this project, but I loved hearing and learning from Matthew’s experiences in his existing book projects.
Two: Sasha made an amazing baseball player slump analogy. When a player isn’t performing, usually either their mechanics are off or they are pressing. They are trying to hard and overthinking it, instead of going on instinct. An artist works best under the same circumstances. Let the ball come to you and make contact. Don’t force it.
This analogy is amazing and I strongly agree with it. The other day, I was discussing my approach with a friend and explaining to him how, on my smaller shoots, I operate mostly on feel, while doing everything myself. Lights go up, find an angle, find a power setting to match some settings on the camera, ambient lights are considered, emotions of the subject are considered, etc, etc, all mostly on auto-pilot. Comparing this to approach to my commercial jobs, where the final direction and style are usually pre-determined and there is a crew constantly awaiting your direction isn’t always an easy task for me, because my intuition is to feel it out first, then act.
Three: There’s a quote from Judith Joy Ross that Matthew loves and thinks of as one of the formative ways he looks at photography and helped open him up: “I have a large beautiful wooden camera. I’m a quick talker and I can convince people in a few seconds because I’m sincerely interested in them, but I am more interested in capturing what I see in them. It’s not that I want to be their friend, it’s that I see their life and it’s amazing and I want to put it in an image. It’s a short but deep connection. Then I go back to being alone, but have one more lighting bug in a bottle. One more piece of evidence as to who we are.
This is beautiful and I aim to internalize this sentiment and allow it to help me in my process. Often, my instinct is to make photographs of people without them being aware of it. This is an approach which is increasingly frowned upon by a society sensitive to a constant and over-bearing surveillance. I love the idea of first better connecting with my subjects and then lowering the barriers to allow them to be themselves. This is my approach on every commercial project I undertake and there’s no reason I can’t also bring it into my personal work. Even if it takes more effort and won’t always work, I think it’s worth the effort.
Two final details that I jotted down and enjoyed:
Robert Adams talks about “the gift picture” … one image that sort of ties a project together and you can work off of.
Sasha: “There’s drudgery in every dream job” … on packing books into boxes all, day, long. Or, in my case, committing to write daily about it all.
-Clayton
EPISODE LINKS:
podcast link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3jMjkuu3kPl0N8GxX3tEZZ
photographer’s website: https://www.matthewgenitempo.com/dogbreath-1
to read: Core Curriculum https://books.apple.com/us/book/core-curriculum/id949942181
2024 09 29
Up against the deadline, yet again. I’d love for this space to be a bit more photo-centric, to give me a break from writing something each and every day, even though that was sort of the reason for doing this in the first place. Maybe we take the website in a new direction next year. I was thinking wordpress might be the move, however, apparently wordpress is a mess these days as well. The internet is really losing its charm, isn’t it? I miss the days of pageview counters and blogrolls and animated gifs. Simpler times.
I’ll get back to posting things maybe worth reading one of these days…
-Clayton
A night scene. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Up against the deadline, yet again. I’d love for this space to be a bit more photo-centric, to give me a break from writing something each and every day, even though that was sort of the reason for doing this in the first place. Maybe we take the website in a new direction next year. I was thinking wordpress might be the move, however, apparently wordpress is a mess these days as well. The internet is really losing its charm, isn’t it? I miss the days of pageview counters and blogrolls and animated gifs. Simpler times.
I’ll get back to posting things maybe worth reading one of these days…
-Clayton
2024 09 27
I love living in a place with defined seasons. I love how the weather became noticeably spookier a few days ago. I love that weather can, in fact, be spooky. I could do without all the spider webs, however.
We’re about to watch a scary movie. Embrace the spooky.
-Clayton
A nighttime stroll. Wilmette, Illinois. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I love living in a place with defined seasons. I love how the weather became noticeably spookier a few days ago. I love that weather can, in fact, be spooky. I could do without all the spider webs, however.
We’re about to watch a scary movie. Embrace the spooky.
-Clayton
2024 09 26
You miss posting one day, and that turns into two days, which then turns into a week. I missed posting yesterday, as I was busy working and then immediately connected with friends for dinner, which turned into an all-night celebration. I’m allowing myself grace by posting this image, today, under yesterday’s date. Let’s see if I can get around to making a post happen today, now.
-Clayton, a busy boy.
Night in the Northwoods. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
You miss posting one day, and that turns into two days, which then turns into a week. I missed posting yesterday, as I was busy working and then immediately connected with friends for dinner, which turned into an all-night celebration. I’m allowing myself grace by posting this image, today, under yesterday’s date. Let’s see if I can get around to making a post happen today, now.
-Clayton, a busy boy.
2024 09 11
I should be writing my wedding vows but I am instead writing a blog.
I vow to work on my wedding more than my blog this week.
Never forget.
-Clayton
Trees at night. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I should be writing my wedding vows but I am instead writing a blog.
I vow to work on my wedding more than my blog this week.
Never forget.
-Clayton
2024 09 03
I’ve been around the country this year, specifically spending time in Nashville, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland and some smaller towns. One obvious visible takeaway is the 15-minute factor. I’ve noticed that upon arriving to these cities, I’ll be fifteen minutes to my destination and I’ll still be in what I consider to be a rural landscape. Then, suddenly, you enter a city. While in said city, you no longer realize how close you are to nature and nothingness. Chicago, on the other hand, is a more urban landscape stretching far into the distance. It’s impossible to place yourself fifteen minutes from downtown and not still be within civilization, unless you go straight east into Lake Michigan.
It’s interesting to me how places get a reputation. Everyone knows North Dakota, for example, as everyone knows Chicago. Everyone knows Ireland, yet most people likely don’t know Bangladesh, despite having 34 times as many people. The point is, places gain a reputation and acknowledgment far less than their actual capabilities. Chicago has a much greater GDP than both Dakotas combined, I’d wager, yet we get stuck with a reputation as determined by representatively few, while the Dakotas enjoy their relative strong representation with little incentive to invite more people to partake in their territory.
My point is, get out of your bubbles and explore reality, because it’s often far greater and far worse than what you’re being told.
-Clayton
Chicago at night, as seen from The Robey Hotel in Wicker Park. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I’ve been around the country this year, specifically spending time in Nashville, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland and some smaller towns. One obvious visible takeaway is the 15-minute factor. I’ve noticed that upon arriving to these cities, I’ll be fifteen minutes to my destination and I’ll still be in what I consider to be a rural landscape. Then, suddenly, you enter a city. While in said city, you no longer realize how close you are to nature and nothingness. Chicago, on the other hand, is a more urban landscape stretching far into the distance. It’s impossible to place yourself fifteen minutes from downtown and not still be within civilization, unless you go straight east into Lake Michigan.
It’s interesting to me how places get a reputation. Everyone knows North Dakota, for example, as everyone knows Chicago. Everyone knows Ireland, yet most people likely don’t know Bangladesh, despite having 34 times as many people. The point is, places gain a reputation and acknowledgment far less than their actual capabilities. Chicago has a much greater GDP than both Dakotas combined, I’d wager, yet we get stuck with a reputation as determined by representatively few, while the Dakotas enjoy their relative strong representation with little incentive to invite more people to partake in their territory.
My point is, get out of your bubbles and explore reality, because it’s often far greater and far worse than what you’re being told.
-Clayton
2024 08 31
I was reminded, while passing this exact spot, that I hadn’t yet blogged today and only had an hour left on the clock to do so before my streak would be broken. I decided in the moment than some things are more important than self-imposed blog rules and therefore am now posting fifty-three minutes late (we stayed out and had some fun!). Luckily nobody reads this here blog so my secret will be safe with me alone.
-Clayton
My buddy Ken on a dark and stormy night. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I was reminded, while passing this exact spot, that I hadn’t yet blogged today and only had an hour left on the clock to do so before my streak would be broken. I decided in the moment than some things are more important than self-imposed blog rules and therefore am now posting fifty-three minutes late (we stayed out and had some fun!). Luckily nobody reads this here blog so my secret will be safe with me alone.
Sometimes you stay out late and make bad decisions to help put all the good decisions into perspective.
-Clayton
2024 08 02
It’s nice having friends. I’ve been a loner just about all my life, while fortunately maintaining at least a few core, close friends along the way. This year more than ever I have been appreciating and (doing my best to) focus on maintaining friend-relationships. It’s remarkable how beneficial a solid friend can be. Let’s be friends!? You know where to find me. I’m here every day!
Shoutout Mr Yoder for being my model this dark and stormy night.
-Clayton
My bud Ken jumps in a puddle to celebrate his birthday. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
It’s nice having friends. I’ve been a loner just about all my life, while fortunately maintaining at least a few core, close friends along the way. This year more than ever I have been appreciating and (doing my best at) focusing on maintaining friend-relationships. It’s remarkable how beneficial a solid friend can be. Let’s be friends!? You know where to find me. I’m here every day! See you tomorrow?
Shoutout Mr Yoder for being my model this dark and stormy night, and my friend every other night.
-Clayton
2024 07 20
I think a lot about how great trains are and how regrettable it is that this country doesn’t have a robust network of trains like most of the developed world does. Sure, cars are fine, but there’s something nice and freeing about being able to venture out into the big city and not have to worry about where to stash your rolling metal box. Imagine a world with high-speed trains connecting all the great midwest towns and cities. We could wake up in Chicago, do lunch in Detroit and dinner in Toronto with almost no effort! Instead, just getting to Detroit from Chicago is basically an all-day affair, likely by car, or possibly on the six-hour, thrice-daily, “higher speed” train.
As someone who loves to explore new places, the train is the ultimate tool. While sitting at the bar early one evening in Union (beautiful photos on their website, btw! 😉) and hearing CTA trains roar overhead as they made a stop across the street at the blue line’s California station, we invented a game. We’d ask the bartender to pick a random number two through ten and use that number to guide the rest of our night. She picked four, so we settled our tab, crossed the street and whatever the next arriving train would be, we’d take it four stops down the line and explore any new-to-us businesses in that part of town. It was a nice little way to get out of our routines and see something new.
Later, we made this game into a full day and doubled down. One random number picked from a stranger led us to Bridgeport and another random number from a stranger led us to Chinatown, where we enjoyed some delicious steamed buns that would’ve never been on our agenda had we not ridden the rails and used the trains as our city guide. We were adventurizing!
-Clayton
El train in the night over Logan Square. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I think a lot about how great trains are and how regrettable it is that this country doesn’t have a robust network of trains like most of the developed world does. Sure, cars are fine, but there’s something nice and freeing about being able to venture out into the big city and not have to worry about where to stash your rolling metal box. Imagine a world with high-speed trains connecting all the great midwest towns and cities. We could wake up in Chicago, do lunch in Detroit and dinner in Toronto with almost no effort! Instead, just getting to Detroit from Chicago is basically an all-day affair, likely by car, or possibly on the six-hour, thrice-daily, “higher speed” train.
As someone who loves to explore new places, the train is the ultimate tool. While sitting at the bar early one evening in Union (beautiful photos on their website, btw! 😉) and hearing CTA trains roar overhead as they made a stop across the street at the blue line’s California station, we invented a game. We’d ask the bartender to pick a random number two through ten and use that number to guide the rest of our night. She picked four, so we settled our tab, crossed the street and whatever the next arriving train would be, we’d take it four stops down the line and explore any new-to-us businesses in that part of town. It was a nice little way to get out of our routines and see something new.
Later, we made this game into a full day and doubled down. One random number picked from a stranger led us to Bridgeport and another random number from a stranger led us to Chinatown, where we enjoyed some delicious steamed buns that would’ve never been on our agenda had we not ridden the rails and used the trains as our city guide. We were adventurizing!
-Clayton
2024 07 11
The birds are telling me to make the damn picture!
Let me explain, before you call to get me sectioned (does the US have a term for this? mental institutions no longer exist here).
Even me, someone who makes an insane amount of photos, often struggles with not “getting the shot”. Lately, I’ve noticed an odd phenomenon where I’ll have a split second instinct to grab my camera from my pocket at make a specific image, but a slight moment of hesitancy or laziness happens. In this moment, appearing the “the frame” as my eye sees it, birds will suddenly appear perfectly framed into what this image would have been had I picked up the camera and made the photo. I swear to you, this has happened an incredible amount of times in the last few weeks, to the point where I’m starting to wonder if the birds are trying to tell me something.
I love thinking about coincidence. At an early age, I would walk to high school and so often, as I’d be passing a driveway, a car would be trying to pull into the driveway right as I crossed. For a while, I thought I was magnetic to cars or cursed or something, but being the smart kid I was, realized it was merely a coincidence. I’d walk past hundreds of driveways a week without a car approaching, it was just that the times when it did happen, those moments would stand out while all the others would be immediately forgotten. Okay, so I wasn’t cursed afterall.
Flash forward to today. Yes, I acknowledge birds are plentiful in my lived environment and there’s a high likelihood that these birds are just on their way to their innocent bird business. But I’m not seeing it that way. I’m seeing this as a clear message from an entity I can’t begin to understand telling me I need to quit the over-thinking. Quit the hesitation. Cut the laziness, grab the damn camera, and make the photo your eyes are telling you to make, in the moment it happens.
If I don’t write back tomorrow, it’s likely because I’m in prison (America’s version of mental hospitals), where I’ll be making images of birds with my mind.
-Clayton
My attempt at real estate photography. Do I have what it takes? Chicago, Illinois. May, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
The birds are telling me to make the damn picture!
Let me explain, before you call to get me sectioned (does the US have a term for this? mental institutions no longer exist here).
Even me, someone who makes an insane amount of photos, often struggles with not “getting the shot”. Lately, I’ve noticed an odd phenomenon where I’ll have a split second instinct to grab my camera from my pocket and make a specific image, but a slight moment of hesitancy or laziness happens. In this moment, appearing in “the frame” as my eye sees it, birds will suddenly appear perfectly positioned into what this image would have been had I picked up the camera and made the photo. I swear to you, this has happened an incredible amount of times in the last few weeks, to the point where I’m starting to wonder if the birds are trying to tell me something.
I love thinking about coincidence. At an early age, I would walk to school and so often, as I’d be passing a driveway, a car would be trying to pull into the driveway right as I crossed. For a while, I thought I was magnetic to cars or cursed or something, but being the smart kid I was, realized it was merely a coincidence. I’d walk past hundreds of driveways a week without a car approaching, it was just that the times when it did happen, those moments would stand out while all the others would be immediately forgotten. Okay, so I wasn’t cursed afterall.
Flash forward to today. Yes, I acknowledge birds are plentiful in my lived environment and there’s a high likelihood that these birds are just on their way to innocent bird business. But I’m not seeing it that way. I’m seeing this as a clear message from an entity I can’t begin to understand telling me I need to quit the over-thinking. Quit the hesitation. Cut the laziness, grab the damn camera, and make the photo your eyes are telling you to make, in the moment it happens.
If I don’t write back tomorrow, it’s likely because I’m in prison (America’s version of mental hospitals), where I’ll be making images of birds with my mind.
-Clayton
2024 07 08
Another Monday so it’s time for another Life Update post, in no clear order:
My commercial photography career continues along at unsustainable levels, causing me to continue to consider new career options (fine art photography? full-time motion directing? bar ownership?). Yes, I’m keeping quite busy on hospitality jobs and smaller projects, but the big budget jobs are less and less frequent. Something needs to change (I hope it’s more work!).
The photo studio has been more stable (profitable, even!) lately, but I’m not yet optimistic this will consistently be the case moving forward (again, commercial projects have been way less frequent among photographers I know, myself included). I really love the studio space and want to make it work, but the amount of my time required just to get it breakeven is also not sustainable. Again, something needs to change (I hope it’s more work!).
While the big jobs are not going on, I spent last last week and a half diving deep into the world of portrait photography via my “Keep it 100” setups. I’m learning a lot and it’s actually been quite interesting, exciting even, to feel like I’m starting all over again and hustling for clients. Very much re-learning to appreciate every single dollar I earn through photography. Definitely planning to write more in depth about all this in the coming days.
I’d been planning to document both the RNC and DNC, however, stupidly had the wrong dates on my calendar and my one week of vacation in the Wisconsin Northwoods falls on the same dates as the RNC being held in Milwaukee, so I will likely miss most of all of it. Kind of annoyed about it but also really need to give myself some time off as I’ve been pushing myself way too hard lately. Still hoping to cover the DNC, which might be an absolute shit show. Politics are very depressing lately, but this might be one of the larger stories of our lifetime.
Had my first tarot card reading yesterday. It was surprisingly apt in its assessment.
I started reading/doing The Artist’s Way after finally finishing the 640 page The Big Store, which was inspired by this previous post: 2024 03 29. I should do a book review or followup post.
I booked my favorite musician (David Dondero) to play a show at the studio September 9th. Save the date! More info to come!
Now that this blog has been populated quite a lot, I’m getting rather annoyed at Squarespace’s rather minimal (bad) handling of blogs. This platform is not really designed for intensive writing or bulk posting. A search bar would be great! If only those had been invented.
Can you tell I’m stressed about money these days? While that does suck, I’ve been quite high on life otherwise and feeling great about most everything else! Money stress is never fun but I continue to tell myself it’s just money and we’ll figure it out.
-Clayton
Night drive through Nashville, Tennessee. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Another Monday so it’s time for another Life Update post, in no clear order:
My commercial photography career continues along at unsustainable levels, causing me to continue to consider new career options (fine art photography? full-time motion directing? bar ownership?). Yes, I’m keeping quite busy on hospitality jobs and smaller projects, but the big budget jobs are less and less frequent. Something needs to change (I hope it’s more work!).
The photo studio has been more stable (profitable, even!) lately, but I’m not yet optimistic this will consistently be the case moving forward (again, commercial projects have been way less frequent among photographers I know, myself included). I really love the studio space and want to make it work, but the amount of my time required just to get it breakeven is also not sustainable. Again, something needs to change (I hope it’s more work!).
While the big jobs are not going on, I spent last last week and a half diving deep into the world of portrait photography via my “Keep it 100” setups. I’m learning a lot and it’s actually been quite interesting, exciting even, to feel like I’m starting all over again and hustling for clients. Very much re-learning to appreciate every single dollar I earn through photography. Definitely planning to write more in depth about all this in the coming days.
I’d been planning to document both the RNC and DNC, however, stupidly had the wrong dates on my calendar and my one week of vacation in the Wisconsin Northwoods falls on the same dates as the RNC being held in Milwaukee, so I will likely miss most of all of it. Kind of annoyed about it but also really need to give myself some time off as I’ve been pushing myself way too hard lately. Still hoping to cover the DNC, which might be an absolute shit show. Politics are very depressing lately, but this might be one of the larger stories of our lifetime.
Had my first tarot card reading yesterday. It was surprisingly apt in its assessment.
I started reading/doing The Artist’s Way after finally finishing the 640 page The Big Store, which was inspired by this previous post: 2024 03 29. I should do a book review or followup post.
I booked my favorite musician (David Dondero) to play a show at the studio September 9th. Save the date! More info to come!
Now that this blog has been populated quite a lot, I’m getting rather annoyed at Squarespace’s rather minimal (bad) handling of blogs. This platform is not really designed for intensive writing or bulk posting. A search bar would be great! If only those had been invented.
Can you tell I’m stressed about money these days? While that does suck, I’ve been quite high on life otherwise and feeling great about most everything else! Money stress is never fun but I continue to tell myself it’s just money and we’ll figure it out.
-Clayton
2024 06 24
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how these days, so much shit happens with zero notice… unless it goes viral on social media. Previously, this was also the case but instead of social media being the purveyor of information, it was good old fashioned news television and newspapers. Because everyone was, more or less, consuming the same sources of information, we all felt like we were, more or less, in on the same conversations. Water cooler talk, as they used to call it back when people had regular jobs and watched primetime television. These days, everyone is curating their information feeds to their own personal interests, be it tv channels or social media accounts. As a result, there’s no overall sense of unity, which exaggerates the feeling that everything is spiraling out of control — which it also very well might be!
The other day, on twitter (otherwise known as the bird app I mean x), the only thing being discussed was the “hawk tuah” girl. While funny, it’s just a silly reference to oral sex and hardly qualifies as The Headline Global News Story. But that’s what it was! Surely, Hawk Tuah Girl will soon get her own show and become our next celebrity personality, as she (inadvertently or maybe very advertently) managed to gain the most amount of attention, which is our most valuable currency these days, all from some drunken talk outside a bar.
Anyway.
Speaking of stories going completely unnoticed, this great video below popped into my social feed, which further led to the feeling that I really have no idea what’s going on anymore! A movie, by one of my favorite directors, and based on a photobook, is now in theaters and I simply had no idea it even existed. Sure, I don’t keep up on the pictures like I used to, but I am pretty tapped into the world of photography and photobooks, but alas, this movie essentially didn’t exist to me.
On the subject of not existing, it’s also crazy how so many people put so many hours into doing something — be it a youtube channel or photography or blogging — only to be almost universally ignored. The guy who made this has 145 videos and 1,500 subscribers (along with one new one in me). But that’s what it takes to be the next Jeff Nichols. And even then, the chances that your huge film project goes completely ignored by the world is remarkably high! It’s brutal what we subject ourselves to in the course of pursuing art.
Now I gotta get my ass to the theater.
-Clayton
Houses in my hood at dusk, along with our fresh new “green” alley. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how these days, so much shit happens with zero notice… unless it goes viral on social media. Previously, this was also the case but instead of social media being the purveyor of information, it was good old fashioned news television and newspapers. Because everyone was, more or less, consuming the same sources of information, we all felt like we were, more or less, in on the same conversations. Water cooler talk, as they used to call it back when people had regular jobs and watched Must See TV. These days, everyone is curating their information feeds to their own personal interests, be it tv channels or social media accounts. As a result, there’s no overall sense of unity, which exaggerates the feeling that everything is spiraling out of control — which it also very well might be!
The other day, on twitter (otherwise known as the bird app I mean x), the only thing being discussed was the “hawk tuah” girl. While funny, it’s just a silly reference to oral sex and hardly qualifies as The Headline News Story. But that’s what it was! Surely, Hawk Tuah Girl will soon get her own show and become our next celebrity personality, as she (inadvertently or maybe very advertently) managed to gain the most amount of attention, which is our most valuable currency these days, resulting from some drunken talk outside of a bar.
Anyway.
Speaking of stories going completely unnoticed, this great video below popped into my social feed and spurred this post’s thought process, which further led to the feeling that I really have no idea what’s going on anymore! A movie, by one of my favorite directors, and based on a photobook (update: which is also from Chicago!), is now in theaters and I simply had no idea it even existed. Sure, I don’t keep up on the pictures like I used to, but I am pretty tapped into the world of photography and photobooks. Alas, this movie essentially didn’t exist to me.
(Update: I’ve been hearing a lot more about this film since posting about how I’d heard nothing about this film)
On the subject of not existing, it’s also crazy how so many people put so many hours into doing something — be it a youtube channel or photography or blogging — only to be almost universally ignored. The guy who made this has 145 videos and only 1,500 subscribers (along with one new one in me). That’s roughly a gain of only ten new subscribers every time you spend an entire day or more making and posting a new video, assuming he also hasn’t deleted a bunch of past videos. You have to put in the hours, be patient, and be persistent. Luck doesn’t hurt, either. That’s what it takes to be the next Jeff Nichols. And even then, the chances that your huge film project goes completely ignored by the world is remarkably high! It’s brutal what we subject ourselves to in the course of pursuing art.
Now I need to get my ass to the theater.
-Clayton
2024 05 20
My bald cypress tree… Can a tree really belong to someone? I think not. But I do love and care for this tree as if it was my own child. Watching Baldee grow up has brought joy to my life. I kid (a little) but being a man without a human kid or (currently) dog or cat or hampster to care for, you take the love where you can get it.
Anyway. It’s Life Update Monday!
Life Updates:
Becoming a “portrait photographer” is way more challenging than I ever would’ve guessed. Convincing people to pay you money for them to come to your studio to stand in front of your camera is no easy task.
That said, I’m learning and making progress and having some fun with it as well! Ted Talk coming soon…
…actually, I’ve been kinda wanting to write more honest thoughts about the backside of the photography business. Numbers, paperwork, production, etc. Is this something anyone wants to see? Am I just opening up a can of worms I will regret? Leave a comment!
Blog comments: nobody leaves them and it’s making me feel like I’m speaking into the void. I understand why nobody blogs anymore and everyone tweets or X’es or whatever-you-call-it-now. Instant gratification is a nasty beast.
I’m photographing two projects this week that should be both challenging and interesting. One is motion! One is studio cocktails in a style I’ve not previously explored. I’m also exploring different lighting approaches in both (namely, continuous lights vs strobes).
The studio is a full-time job and something I should also write a bit more about. Lots of lessons learned over the last 2-3 years. The last few months it has been cashflow positive, which is obviously nice but is not always the case (nor was I expecting it to be, however, I was expecting it to be easier in almost every other way than it has been).
Weather is nice. I’m jinxing it but why haven’t there been mosquitos yet??? Did we bioengineer them away? The last few years in Chicago they’ve been terrible and so far this year I’m not sure I’ve even seen one. I’m sure they are coming, but damn, it’s been real nice.
Printing! I haven’t had time to get too into it yet, but, damn! The first few prints I’ve made (I’ve only been testing paper samples so far with the same image) have really lit a fire under my ass. I’m optimistic it will unlock a whole new perspective on what photography even is, to me. More on that soon.
-Clayton
The moon above my backyard bald cypress tree. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
My bald cypress tree… Can a tree really belong to someone? I think not. But I do love and care for this tree as if it was my own child. Watching Baldee grow up has brought joy to my life. I kid (a little) but being a man without a human kid or (currently) dog or cat or hampster to care for, you take the love where you can get it.
Anyway. It’s Life Update Monday!
Life Updates:
Becoming a “portrait photographer” is way more challenging than I ever would’ve guessed. Convincing people to pay you money for them to come to your studio to stand in front of your camera is no easy task.
That said, I’m learning and making progress and having some fun with it as well! Ted Talk coming soon…
…actually, I’ve been kinda wanting to write more honest thoughts about the backside of the photography business. Numbers, paperwork, production, etc. Is this something anyone wants to see? Am I just opening up a can of worms I will regret? Leave a comment!
Blog comments: nobody leaves them and it’s making me feel like I’m speaking into the void. I understand why nobody blogs anymore and everyone tweets or X’es or whatever-you-call-it-now. Instant gratification is a nasty beast.
I’m photographing two projects this week that should be both challenging and interesting. One is motion! One is studio cocktails in a style I’ve not previously explored. I’m also exploring different lighting approaches in both (namely, continuous lights vs strobes).
The studio is a full-time job and something I should also write a bit more about. Lots of lessons learned over the last 2-3 years. The last few months it has been cashflow positive, which is obviously nice but is not always the case (nor was I expecting it to be, however, I was expecting it to be easier in almost every other way than it has been).
Weather is nice. I’m jinxing it but why haven’t there been mosquitos yet??? Did we bioengineer them away? The last few years in Chicago they’ve been terrible and so far this year I’m not sure I’ve even seen one. I’m sure they are coming, but damn, it’s been real nice.
Printing! I haven’t had time to get too into it yet, but, damn! The first few prints I’ve made (I’ve only been testing paper samples so far with the same image) have really lit a fire under my ass. I’m optimistic it will unlock a whole new perspective on what photography even is, to me. More on that soon.
-Clayton
2024 05 14
Kyla has a book coming out which is very exciting news! She has become one of my favorite thinkers on economics and our modern media-saturated life. I share this video because this piece arrived in my inbox a few days ago via her substack and I really enjoyed reading it. Then, today, the video version of it appeared in my youtube feed and it reminded me about how I love that she makes her content available on all the major platforms. It’s a ton of work, but these days this is what you basically have to do if you want to be noticed. Posting to your daily weblog isn’t going to move the needle! … perhaps I should turn my daily weblog post into a daily vlog post, as well … maybe.
-Clayton
Super grainy image of a green-lit tree at night with some stars and planets and sensor artifacts. March, 2024.Wheeling, Illinois. © Clayton Hauck
Kyla has a book coming out which is very exciting news! She has become one of my favorite thinkers on economics and our modern media-saturated life. I share this video because this piece arrived in my inbox a few days ago via her substack and I really enjoyed reading it. Then, today, the video version of it appeared in my youtube feed and it reminded me about how I love that she makes her content available on all the major platforms. It’s a ton of work, but these days this is what you basically have to do if you want to be noticed. Posting to your daily weblog isn’t going to move the needle! … perhaps I should turn my daily weblog post into a daily vlog post, as well … maybe.
I love what Noah Kalina has been doing on his channel lately. But yeah, yet another fulltime job on top of the ones I already have probably isn’t in the cards. Maybe we start small.
-Clayton
2024 05 02
Me, walking into a hotel room for the first time: Oh, nice room, glad I upgraded! The view is decent but I wish the windows were bigger. Why is the sink not draining fast? Why does the sink’s faucet handle come like a millimeter from hitting the mirror? Do people not plan ahead before installing these things? Why do hotels give you giant bar soaps that you end up mostly wasting and without any sort of tray… where are you supposed to put this bar without it getting messy? There’s definitely a stain of something on the floor by the toilet. Free water… but it’s Dasani, of course. Oh great the phone is blinking so now I need to figure this out so it doesn’t blink for four days straight and keep me up at night… why are these new phones so impossible to figure out? Clearly whoever designed this thing didn’t expect anyone to use it. Gotta move this weird pillow out of the way. Why are the reading lights on? The air conditioning is kinda loud. Oh great, a text from the hotel, now, too.
Text from hotel: Welcome! Thanks for being a valued member. How is everything with the room?
Me: good, thanks.
-Clayton
People are inside doing things as day turns to night. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Me, walking into a hotel room for the first time: Oh, nice room, glad I upgraded! The view is decent but I wish the windows were bigger. Why is the sink not draining fast? Why does the sink’s faucet handle come like a millimeter from hitting the mirror? Do people not plan ahead before installing these things? Why do hotels give you giant bar soaps that you end up mostly wasting and without any sort of tray… where are you supposed to put this bar without it getting messy? Nice, one of those Martin Schoeller mirrors… I wonder what he’s up to now. There’s definitely a stain of something on the floor by the toilet. Free water… but it’s Dasani, of course. Oh great the phone is blinking so now I need to figure this out so it doesn’t blink for four days straight and keep me up at night… why are these new phones so impossible to figure out? Clearly whoever designed this thing didn’t expect anyone to use it. Gotta move this weird pillow out of the way. Why are the reading lights on? The air conditioning is kinda loud. Oh great, a text from the hotel, now, too.
Text from hotel: Welcome! Thanks for being a valued member. How is everything with the room?
Me: good, thanks.
-Clayton
2024 04 28
If you read yesterday’s post, this is the scene we came across while walking home from bar dinner.
If you read Thursday’s post, this is me embracing using new photographic tools. I’ve written about it here before, but I’ve been loving the Lapse app in my iPhone. While I’ve been trying to use my phone less for image making (thus, carrying around a Ricoh everywhere I go), I do love the snapshot aesthetic this app provides, along with the date and time, which is a fun throwback to point and shoot film cameras. The only downside is the files you get from it are not very big. I imagine the app creators don’t want to host full-sized images on their servers to save money, but if you could pay for a “pro” version which allowed maximum resolution, I would totally give them my money.
For the first time in my pro photography career, I’m finding myself wanting more, new, different cameras! I just need to make sure I don’t revert back into the gear-head person who cared more about what equipment he had than the images being made from that equipment.
-Clayton
Spring flower pops up in an unexpected place. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
If you read yesterday’s post, this is the scene we came across while walking home from bar dinner.
If you read Thursday’s post, this is me embracing using new photographic tools. I’ve written about it here before, but I’ve been loving the Lapse app in my iPhone. While I’ve been trying to use my phone less for image making (thus, carrying around a Ricoh everywhere I go), I do love the snapshot aesthetic this app provides, along with the date and time, which is a fun throwback to point and shoot film cameras. The only downside is the files you get from it are not very big. I imagine the app creators don’t want to host full-sized images on their servers to save money, but if you could pay for a “pro” version which allowed maximum resolution, I would totally give them my money.
For the first time in my pro photography career, I’m finding myself wanting more, new, different cameras! I just need to make sure I don’t revert back into the gear-head person who cared more about what equipment he had than the images being made from that equipment.
-Clayton
2024 04 26
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
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 15
Well, well. Happy tax day. Having jammed my weekend full of plans (hosted multiple events at the studio while vastly misjudging the time involved), I find myself scrambling to get my tax payment in the mail so it can be postmarked on time, while scrambling to get a blog post up without having one ready to go in the morning for the first time, while scrambling to clean up the studio and do laundry and get the house in order and kick on the air conditioning for the first time, all before departing town tomorrow afternoon for a quick work trip. Yes, spring has sprung and things are moving.
Let’s see if I can’t get some more blog posts in the pipeline and keep this streak going for a while longer. Would hate to end it on such an uneventful note.
-Clayton
Illuminated window on a winter night. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2023. © Clayton Hauck
Well, well. Happy tax day. Having jammed my weekend full of plans (hosted multiple events at the studio while vastly misjudging the time involved), I find myself scrambling to get my tax payment in the mail so it can be postmarked on time, while scrambling to get a blog post up without having one ready to go in the morning for the first time, while scrambling to clean up the studio and do laundry and get the house in order and kick on the air conditioning for the first time, all before departing town tomorrow afternoon for a quick work trip. Yes, spring has sprung and things are moving.
Let’s see if I can’t get some more blog posts in the pipeline and keep this streak going for a while longer. Would hate to end it on such an uneventful note.
-Clayton