Clayton Hauck Clayton Hauck

2024 12 03

One low-key highlight during our incredible wedding weekend this September was staying at The Robey. You know, that tall building in The Crotch of Wicker Park that used to be abandoned and is now a boutique hotel. We splurged on a corner suite on a high floor and, while expensive, I loved it so much it had me wanting to live there.

ā€œHow long will you be staying with us, sir?ā€

ā€œIndefinitely, Iā€™m being sued for divorce,ā€ I joked with myself in my head, hours before getting married (itā€™s a Rushmore reference, for those confused).

In the early-morning hours, the sun creeps up over the skyline before blasting you in the face with a nice natural wake-up call. Surely, if I lived here, Iā€™d get comfortable with the blackout blinds, but seeing as I only had two morning to enjoy the views, I was up early snapping photos while I shouldā€™ve been catching some beauty Zā€™s.

It has been interesting to see the cityā€™s downtown creep westward in recent years, as the West Loop and Fulton Market continue to be hot. Part of me regrets not grabbing a loft back when they were somewhat affordable, but I still love our home in the more modest and somewhat chill westside neighborhood off The 606, which has shaped my life quite dramatically in the last decade, though I still long for those million dollar city views. One day, perhaps.

-Clayton

Skyline views from The Robey Hotel. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck

One low-key highlight during our incredible wedding weekend this September was staying at The Robey. You know, that tall building in The Crotch of Wicker Park that used to be abandoned and is now a boutique hotel. We splurged on a corner suite on a high floor and, while expensive, I loved it so much it had me wanting to live there.

ā€œHow long will you be staying with us, sir?ā€

ā€œIndefinitely, Iā€™m being sued for divorce,ā€ I joked with myself in my head, hours before getting married (itā€™s a Rushmore reference, for those confused).

In the early-morning hours, the sun creeps up over the skyline before blasting you in the face with a nice natural wake-up call. Surely, if I lived here, Iā€™d get comfortable with the blackout blinds, but seeing as I only had two morning to enjoy the views, I was up early snapping photos while I shouldā€™ve been catching some beauty Zā€™s.

It has been interesting to see the cityā€™s downtown creep westward in recent years, as the West Loop and Fulton Market continue to be hot. Part of me regrets not grabbing a loft back when they were somewhat affordable, but I still love our home in the more modest and somewhat chill westside neighborhood off The 606, which has shaped my life quite dramatically in the last decade. I still long for those million dollar city views, though. One day, perhaps.

-Clayton

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Clayton Hauck Clayton Hauck

2024 11 01

Another one of Paulie Bā€™s great Walkie Talkie videos dropped and itā€™s Chicago street photographer Amando de Leon so I have to shout it out! Peep the video belowā€¦ a few fun standout moments for me were:

  • Amando says: 35mm in Chicago, 28mm in NYC are the perfect focal lengths and that feels so right. I love the sentiment.

  • ā€œI love flash. You look like youā€™re just having a party!" Being out here [photographing on the street] is like being at a partyā€

  • He wants to publish more DIY zines and get a website up to sell them to fund his photo projects ā€¦ Iā€™m aiming to create a lil web shop on my see you soon site for this exact kind of thing. Hopefully early next year itā€™ll be a reality. Itā€™s been stewing in my brain for a long time now, itā€™s just finding the time to make it a reality that has been the challenge. Ideally, I would love to help in my own tiny way to support these photographers who are out there putting in the time making their art. Iā€™d also love to be out there myself more but know that realistically it will probably never happen, at least as much as Iā€™d like it to.

  • Amando likes to photograph in bars. This was my life for a while! I think Amado and I need to meet and I need to buy the guy a couple beers! Hit me up, Amado!

  • Gary Stochl and Vivian Maier doing it themselves without a community or social media to keep pushing them.

  • Why do you take photos? ā€œbecause it makes me feel like Iā€™m here, Iā€™m present.ā€

-Clayton

Hyde Park and downtown through the trees of South Shore, Chicago. September, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck

Another one of Paulie Bā€™s great Walkie Talkie videos dropped and itā€™s Chicago street photographer Amando de Leon so I have to shout it out! Peep the video belowā€¦ a few fun standout moments for me were:

  • Amando says: 35mm in Chicago, 28mm in NYC are the perfect focal lengths and that feels so right. I love the sentiment.

  • ā€œI love flash. You look like youā€™re just having a party!" Being out here [photographing on the street] is like being at a partyā€

  • He wants to publish more DIY zines and get a website up to sell them to fund his photo projects ā€¦ Iā€™m aiming to create a lil web shop on my see you soon site for this exact kind of thing. Hopefully early next year itā€™ll be a reality. Itā€™s been stewing in my brain for a long time now, itā€™s just finding the time to make it a reality that has been the challenge. Ideally, I would love to help in my own tiny way to support these photographers who are out there putting in the time making their art. Iā€™d also love to be out there myself more but know that realistically it will probably never happen, at least as much as Iā€™d like it to.

  • Amando likes to photograph in bars. This was my life for a while! I think Amado and I need to meet and I need to buy the guy a couple beers! Hit me up, Amado!

  • Gary Stochl and Vivian Maier doing it themselves without a community or social media to keep pushing them.

  • Why do you take photos? ā€œbecause it makes me feel like Iā€™m here, Iā€™m present.ā€

-Clayton

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Clayton Hauck Clayton Hauck

2024 09 03

Iā€™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. Iā€™ve noticed that upon arriving to these cities, Iā€™ll be fifteen minutes to my destination and Iā€™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. Itā€™s impossible to place yourself fifteen minutes from downtown and not still be within civilization, unless you go straight east into Lake Michigan.

Itā€™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 donā€™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, Iā€™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 itā€™s often far greater and far worse than what youā€™re being told.

-Clayton

Chicago at night, as seen from The Robey Hotel in Wicker Park. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck

Iā€™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. Iā€™ve noticed that upon arriving to these cities, Iā€™ll be fifteen minutes to my destination and Iā€™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. Itā€™s impossible to place yourself fifteen minutes from downtown and not still be within civilization, unless you go straight east into Lake Michigan.

Itā€™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 donā€™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, Iā€™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 itā€™s often far greater and far worse than what youā€™re being told.

-Clayton

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Clayton Hauck Clayton Hauck

2024 06 25

I do miss the days when I had a weekā€™s worth of blog posts in the can and didnā€™t need to think of posting something every single day. Today, Iā€™m busy catching up on a never-ending list of things to do. Iā€™ll never catch up, of course. Triage is always necessary. Admittedly, I spend too much time dreaming and not enough time doing. But thatā€™s just how I operate and I donā€™t think it can be compromised. World building in my brain is what keeps me sane and happy.

To keep things on topic: I will say that Nashville is a wildly overrated city. It competes for the top spot in this category. In my opinion, of course. That said, thereā€™s also a lot of great stuff in Nashville. Itā€™s not a bad place, but I donā€™t fully understand the hype. But there a lot of things I donā€™t understand.

-Clayton

Downtown Nashville, as seen from the car passing through on the highway. April, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck

I do miss the days when I had a weekā€™s worth of blog posts in the can and didnā€™t need to think of posting something every single day. Today, Iā€™m busy catching up on a never-ending list of things to do. Iā€™ll never catch up, of course. Triage is always necessary. Admittedly, I spend too much time dreaming and not enough time doing. But thatā€™s just how I operate and I donā€™t think it can be compromised. World building in my brain is what keeps me sane and happy.

To keep things on topic: I will say that Nashville is a wildly overrated city. It competes for the top spot in this category. In my opinion, of course. That said, thereā€™s also a lot of great stuff in Nashville. Itā€™s not a bad place, but I donā€™t fully understand the hype. But there a lot of things I donā€™t understand.

-Clayton

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Clayton Hauck Clayton Hauck

2024 06 18

I just got back from an assignment at Wrigley making portraits of one of their players, which was a lot of fun (and also hard ass work ā€” itā€™s damn hot out there today!). As always, gaining a sliver of amazing access tops the list of why I (usually) love my job. We had a portrait setup in some VIP underground lounge Iā€™d never been in and likely will never be in again. It had windows looking into one of the batting cages so you can watch the players warm up as if they are monkeys in the zoo (or perhaps you, sipping beers in the underground bar, are the monkey). Thru a few doors, we immediately ended up in the visitorā€™s dugout and then a few more steps up onto the field, where we did a second setup in the outfield among the ivy, with the iconic scoreboard in the backdrop.

Wrigley really is a special place, even after the neighborhood has been fully renovated. Today got me thinking back to 2016, which was amazing, but also had me pondering a regret. That summer, things just felt right, and I set out to both attend as many games as I could and document the entire season from a fanā€™s perspective. Sadly, my ambitions waned and I didnā€™t make good with myself on the photo project end of the deal, which remains a big bummer to me because, as we know now, they did end up winning the Series that year and I likely wouldā€™ve had a really special photobook project as a result. Even then, the rules werenā€™t as harsh as they are now and you could bring in nicer cameras and wander the stadium a bit just making images. Now, you need a special pass to do or go anywhere and games cost so much money, we hardly ever go.

Ho hum. Letā€™s play two! (Iā€™m off to go shoot more, today)

-Clayton

Chicago peeking out from behind the clouds. May, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck

I just got back from an assignment at Wrigley making portraits of one of their players, which was a lot of fun (and also hard ass work ā€” itā€™s damn hot out there today!). As always, gaining a sliver of amazing access tops the list of why I (usually) love my job. We had a portrait setup in some VIP underground lounge Iā€™d never been in and likely will never be in again. It had windows looking into one of the batting cages so you can watch the players warm up as if they are monkeys in the zoo (or perhaps you, sipping beers in the underground bar, are the monkey). Thru a few doors, we immediately ended up in the visitorā€™s dugout and then a few more steps up onto the field, where we did a second setup in the outfield among the ivy, with the iconic scoreboard in the backdrop.

Wrigley really is a special place, even after the neighborhood has been fully renovated. Today got me thinking back to 2016, which was amazing, but also had me pondering a regret. That summer, things just felt right, and I set out to both attend as many games as I could and document the entire season from a fanā€™s perspective. Sadly, my ambitions waned and I didnā€™t make good with myself on the photo project end of the deal, which remains a big bummer to me because, as we know now, they did end up winning the Series that year and I likely wouldā€™ve had a really special photobook project as a result. Even then, the rules werenā€™t as harsh as they are now and you could bring in nicer cameras and wander the stadium a bit just making images. Now, you need a special pass to do or go anywhere and games cost so much money, we hardly ever go.

Ho hum. Letā€™s play two! (Iā€™m off to go shoot more, today)

-Clayton

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Clayton Hauck Clayton Hauck

2024 01 11

Make an image, edit an image, select an image, post an image, write a lil thing, schedule the post, repeat.

Hard hat, lunch pail. Hard hat, lunch pail.

This is the life of a working photographer, toiling away in the digital mines of The Internet.

I use the word ā€œtoilā€ lovingly, of course.

-Clayton

Humboldt Park Lagoon. December, 2023. Chicago. Ā© Clayton Hauck

Make an image, edit an image, select an image, post an image, write a lil thing, schedule the post, repeat.

Hard hat, lunch pail. Hard hat, lunch pail.

This is the life of a working photographer, toiling away in the digital mines of The Internet.

I use the word ā€œtoilā€ lovingly, of course.

-Clayton

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