2024 05 31
Recently, I was in Atlanta working on a big, challenging commercial photography project. The shoot was only one day, however, there was quite a lot of prep work involved, as we only had a limited amount of time to execute the creative ask and it was in the complicated environment of shooting on an actual airplane, on the tarmac of one of the worldās busiest airports, for a beverage company that demands its beverages look beautiful. Run-on-sentences aside, the challenge of photographing talent in the tight environment of an actual airplane, then lighting it to make it look both authentic and beautiful, is a real one!
In the nights leading up to the production, I would venture up to the rooftop bar and restaurant of my hotel, which had an amazing vantage point of the airport below, and I would watch a steady stream of planes for hours without getting bored. You check an app on your phone to see a line of planes and where they are arriving from; then, sure enough, they appear in front of you in real life and casually touch down and taxi to their gate. Itās a never ending flow of people, coming and going, on complicated machines our airline producer told us cost $800 million each.
In this moment it hit me: photographers are going the way of the airline pilot. My mind juxtaposed that scene in Catch Me If You Can, where DiCaprio is posing as a pilot during the glory days of commercial air travel with the image of a massively successful commercial photographer in the not-too-long-ago days when they owned buildings, had staffs, and pulled in millions of dollars a year in commissions. These days, both professions are vastly different, however, I fear the commercial photographer is still on a steady and unavoidable decent path towards total commodification. Itās business, afterall.
The camera we used on this project (Fuji GFX100ii) is a marvel of technology, and I canāt help but to compare it to the tool of the modern commercial airline pilot. Sure, some skill is involved in its usage, but really this $10,000 camera is doing heavy lifting in this work relationship.
I think this is partly why Iām finding myself turning more towards the artistic side of photography these days. I donāt want to find myself in a uniform, holding a McDonalds sack and a rolling camera bag, waiting at the gate for the studio doors to open and let out the previous commercial photography shoot so that I can enter the building and calmly and mechanically execute my task of pushing the button and ensuring the files are flowing to the computer. Iām an artsit, dammit! I have opinions! I have ideas! I have vision!
I refuse be commoditized.
-Clayton
On the move, somewhere in rural Illinois or Indiana. April, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Recently, I was in Atlanta working on a big, challenging commercial photography project. The shoot was only one day, however, there was quite a lot of prep work involved, as we only had a limited amount of time to execute the creative ask and it was in the complicated environment of shooting on an actual airplane, on the tarmac of one of the worldās busiest airports, for a beverage company that demands its beverages look beautiful. Run-on-sentences aside, the challenge of photographing talent in the tight environment of an actual airplane, then lighting it to make it look both authentic and beautiful, is a real one!
In the nights leading up to the production, I would venture up to the rooftop bar and restaurant of my hotel, which had an amazing vantage point of the airport below, and I would watch a steady stream of planes for hours without getting bored. You check an app on your phone to see a line of planes and where they are arriving from; then, sure enough, they appear in front of you in real life and casually touch down and taxi to their gate. Itās a never ending flow of people, coming and going, on complicated machines our airline producer told us cost $800 million each.
In this moment it hit me: photographers are going the way of the airline pilot. My mind juxtaposed that scene in Catch Me If You Can, where DiCaprio is posing as a pilot during the glory days of commercial air travel with the image of a massively successful commercial photographer in the not-too-long-ago days when they owned buildings, had staffs, and pulled in millions of dollars a year in commissions. These days, both professions are vastly different, however, I fear the commercial photographer is still on a steady and unavoidable decent path towards total commodification. Itās business, afterall.
The camera we used on this project (Fuji GFX100ii) is a marvel of technology, and I canāt help but to compare it to the tool of the modern commercial airline pilot. Sure, some skill is involved in its usage, but really this $10,000 camera is doing heavy lifting in this work relationship.
I think this is partly why Iām finding myself turning more towards the artistic side of photography these days. I donāt want to find myself in a uniform, holding a McDonalds sack and a rolling camera bag, waiting at the gate for the studio doors to open and let out the previous commercial photography shoot so that I can enter the building and calmly and mechanically execute my task of pushing the button and ensuring the files are flowing to the computer. Iām an artsit, dammit! I have opinions! I have ideas! I have vision!
I refuse be commoditized.
-Clayton
2024 05 21
While navigating rural Indiana/Illinois on my way to catch the solar eclipse the following day, I stopped to charge my fancy electric vehicle. As I navigated into the parking lot, I needed to dodge random debris on the road, along with what appeared to be a downed power line. After pulling into the charging spot to juice my ride, I got out in search of a bathroom, having held my bladder the last fifty miles. Ominously, the building appeared simultaneously new, abandoned, and very much closed. A generator sat outside with cords and cables running in through an open window. A half dozen other fancy EVs from parts unknown sat next to mine, their drivers milling around the immediate area and keeping to themselves.
Needing to urinate quite badly, I ventured out to check the building and sure enough, it was closed. Grump and annoyed, I continued scouring the area thinking maybe there was some private spot out here in the middle of nowhere to relieve myself. After rounding the corner, in back of the building, I came upon this scene pictured above. A brilliant sun shining through the clouds onto farmland and junk and trash and an unattended fire pit.
āFucking Indiana,ā I thought to myself judgingly while trekking back to my car, still holding my bladder.
Once the charge was complete, still holding my bladder, I headed down road to the nearby McDonalds to examine their facilities. Upon pulling into that parking lot, I began to notice more downed trees and power lines and debris, which made me think back to a conversation Iād had with a local a few days prior in which he told me about the tornadoes that hit this general area.
Ahh yes. What Iād been witnessing was not just busted infrastructure blocking my need to urinate and buy beef jerky to subdue my raging hanger, but the remnants of a fucking tornado which had rolled through the area just a few days prior.
āYāall from here?ā I asked a family heading into the McDonalds, hoping to get confirmation.
āYessum.ā they responded, in my head.
āDid a tornado hit here a few days back?ā I asked.
They confirmed it and my judgmental city slicker perspective was shattered and I was just thankful nobody was hurt and the Tesla charging station was still working, because if it hadnāt been, Iād be living in Haubstadt now!
-Clayon
The scene out back in rural Haubstadt, Indiana. April, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
While navigating rural Indiana/Illinois on my way to catch the solar eclipse the following day, I stopped to charge my fancy electric vehicle. As I navigated into the parking lot, I needed to dodge random debris on the road, along with what appeared to be a downed power line. After pulling into the charging spot to juice my ride, I got out in search of a bathroom, having held my bladder the last fifty miles. Ominously, the building appeared simultaneously new, abandoned, and very much closed. A generator sat outside with cords and cables running in through an open window. A half dozen other fancy EVs from parts unknown sat next to mine, their drivers milling around the immediate area and keeping to themselves.
Needing to urinate quite badly, I ventured out to check the building and sure enough, it was closed. Grump and annoyed, I continued scouring the area thinking maybe there was some private spot out here in the middle of nowhere to relieve myself. After rounding the corner, in back of the building, I came upon this scene pictured above. A brilliant sun shining through the clouds onto farmland and junk and trash and an unattended fire pit.
āFucking Indiana,ā I thought to myself judgingly while trekking back to my car, still holding my bladder and without Slim Jims.
Once the charge was complete, I headed down road to the nearby McDonalds to examine their facilities. Upon pulling into that parking lot, I began to notice more debris along with downed trees and power lines, which made me think back to a conversation Iād had with a local a few days prior in which he told me about the tornadoes that hit this general area.
Ahh yes. What Iād been witnessing was not just busted infrastructure blocking my need to urinate and buy beef jerky to subdue my raging hanger, but the remnants of a fucking tornado which had rolled through the area just a few days prior.
āYāall from here?ā I asked a family heading into the McDonalds, hoping to get confirmation.
āYessum.ā they responded, in my head.
āDid a tornado hit here a few days back?ā I asked.
They confirmed it and my judgmental city slicker perspective was shattered and I was just thankful nobody was hurt and the Tesla charging station was still working, because if it hadnāt been, Iād be living in Haubstadt now!
-Clayon
2024 03 15
On Banning TikTok
Iām not aiming to make this a news commentary blog with quick takes on current events, but let me take a few moments to jot down some thoughts on this possible TikTok ban legislation currently in the news:
Thereās an evolving summary of America I have in my head that is essentially boiled down to this: America will (more or less) let you do whatever you want unless you fuck with Americaāthen America will kill you.
One of my complaints with America boils down to the killing portion of this summary, in the sense that I think we should be doing less of it. Killing people to solve our problems never seems to work, yet we go back to this game plan repeatedly for reasons Iāve yet to fully understand. Our current misguided killing, being done through our friends in Israel, has grown wildly unpopular in no small part due to the efforts of the fine folks behind TikTok.
Youād maybe think that, for this reason, Iād be against the banning of TikTok but youād be wrong. Iāve been in favor of TikTok regulations for what seems like an eternity now; Since before Trump was in favor of banning it, before he āchanged his mindā and decided he doesnāt care so much after all.
Part of the problem is how we are discussing the topic as a ban. Scott Galloway put it well by saying we donāt consider 65 mile per hour speed limit signs as the banning cars, we think of them as a safety regulation, which is exactly how we should talk about implementing new restraints on social media apps (be it foreign-owned names like TikTok or domestic products). Calling it a ban sounds unnecessarily extreme.
That said, itās the foreign-owned aspect of this issue that is whatās going to lead to this so-called ban on TikTok. Lawmakers were supposedly inundated with calls from frustrated kids who were prompted and connected by their TikTok app in an effort to stop this legislation. Ordinarily, this would be standard operating procedure in our so-called democracy, however, itās now being seen as the weaponizing of our youth by a foreign power in which we have no control. This, coinciding with the turning of the narrative against our stupid war is what has lawmakers fed up. America is being fucked with!
But how is this justification to outright ban a foreign company, just because you donāt like how they are shining a light on your shady dealings?! Well, my beef with TikTok is more due to unfair business practices (China does not allow US companies to operate within China yet expects us to allow them to operate here) and with social media toxicity generally. I donāt think we should be allowing our youth to use consequence-free, unregulated social media like we do, but since weāre a āfree countryā and lawmakers shrug their shoulders at the idea of implementing any sort of protection in this regard, we should at the very least ensure these companies, whom weāre allowing to raise our children, are not run by uncooperative foreign actors with motives fully unknown to us.
Damn. This took entirely too long to write, still comes off as generally vague and unconvincing, and therefore is why I donāt write commentary on news. Anyway, to distill my thoughts even further, I will say this: I think TikTok should be regulated, as I think all social media companies should have better oversight and far more accountability. I donāt think this country should allow foreign access to our markets without at least some level of reciprocity. And Iām going back to making photos while thinking less about messy geopolitical social media attention wars that are really about money, power, and control of the people.
šµtiktok chimešµ
-Clayton
Rural Illinois farmland. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
On Banning TikTok
Iām not aiming to make this a news commentary blog with quick takes on current events, but let me take a few moments to jot down some thoughts on this possible TikTok ban legislation currently in the news:
Thereās an evolving summary of America I have in my head that is essentially boiled down to this: America will (more or less) let you do whatever you want unless you fuck with Americaāthen America will kill you.
One of my complaints with America boils down to the killing portion of this summary, in the sense that I think we should be doing less of it. Killing people to solve our problems never seems to work, yet we go back to this game plan repeatedly for reasons Iāve yet to fully understand. Our current misguided killing, being done through our friends in Israel, has grown wildly unpopular in no small part due to the efforts of the fine folks behind TikTok.
Youād maybe think that, for this reason, Iād be against the banning of TikTok but youād be wrong. Iāve been in favor of TikTok regulations for what seems like an eternity now; Since before Trump was in favor of banning it, before he āchanged his mindā and decided he doesnāt care so much after all.
Part of the problem is how we are discussing the topic as a ban. Scott Galloway put it well by saying we donāt consider 65 mile per hour speed limit signs as the banning of cars, we think of them as a safety regulation on driving, which is exactly how we should talk about implementing new restraints on social media apps (be it foreign-owned names like TikTok or domestic products). Calling it a ban sounds unnecessarily extreme, especially in this time of extreme actions, when having resources to freely vent our frustrations is as important as ever.
That said, itās the foreign-owned aspect of this issue that is whatās going to lead to this so-called ban on TikTok. Lawmakers were supposedly inundated with calls from frustrated kids who were prompted and connected by their TikTok app in an effort to stop this legislation. Ordinarily, this would be standard operating procedure in our so-called democracy, however, itās now being seen as the weaponizing of our youth by a foreign power in which we have no control. This, coinciding with the turning of the narrative against our stupid war is what has lawmakers fed up; Turning the social network into an echo chamber of discontent aimed directly at the United States by a foreign interest with a different viewpoint. America is being fucked with!
But how is this justification to outright ban a foreign companyājust because you donāt like how they are shining a light on your shady dealings?! Well, my beef with TikTok is more due to unfair business practices (China does not allow US companies to operate within China yet expects us to allow them to operate here) and with social media toxicity generally. I donāt think we should be allowing our youth to use consequence-free, unregulated social media as we do, but since weāre a āfree countryā and lawmakers shrug their shoulders at the idea of implementing any sort of protection in this regard, we should at the very least ensure these companies, whom weāre allowing to raise our children, are not run by uncooperative foreign actors with motives fully unknown to us. That it takes a shitty war largely of our making is an unfortunate means to an end, I fully agree.
Damn. This took entirely too long to write, still comes off as generally vague and unconvincing, and therefore is why I donāt write commentary on news. Anyway, to distill my thoughts even further, I will say this: I think TikTok should be regulated, as I think all social media companies should have better oversight and far more accountability. I donāt think this country should allow foreign access to our markets without at least some level of reciprocity. The world is an increasingly-complicated-and-increasingly-connected place and the people who control the algorithms have as much power as the people who control the guns. TikTok isnāt going away, thereās too much money at stake, but US leadership has finally seen the light on how vital control of the worldās most popular social network is to the operation of the American Machine, and that is why they will somehow, someway, wrestle away enough control of it to better sleep at night.
And Iām going back to making photos while thinking less about messy geopolitical social media attention wars that are really about money, power, and control of the people.
šµtiktok chimešµ
-Clayton