2024 11 01
Another one of Paulie Bās great Walkie Talkie videos dropped and itās 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.
āI love flash. You look like youāre 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¦ Iām aiming to create a lil web shop on my see you soon site for this exact kind of thing. Hopefully early next year itāll be a reality. Itās been stewing in my brain for a long time now, itās 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. Iād also love to be out there myself more but know that realistically it will probably never happen, at least as much as Iād 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? ābecause it makes me feel like Iām here, Iām present.ā
-Clayton
Hyde Park and downtown through the trees of South Shore, Chicago. September, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Another one of Paulie Bās great Walkie Talkie videos dropped and itās 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.
āI love flash. You look like youāre 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¦ Iām aiming to create a lil web shop on my see you soon site for this exact kind of thing. Hopefully early next year itāll be a reality. Itās been stewing in my brain for a long time now, itās 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. Iād also love to be out there myself more but know that realistically it will probably never happen, at least as much as Iād 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? ābecause it makes me feel like Iām here, Iām present.ā
-Clayton
2024 09 03
Iāve 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. Iāve noticed that upon arriving to these cities, Iāll be fifteen minutes to my destination and Iāll 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. Itās impossible to place yourself fifteen minutes from downtown and not still be within civilization, unless you go straight east into Lake Michigan.
Itās 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 donāt 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, Iād 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 itās often far greater and far worse than what youāre being told.
-Clayton
Chicago at night, as seen from The Robey Hotel in Wicker Park. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Iāve 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. Iāve noticed that upon arriving to these cities, Iāll be fifteen minutes to my destination and Iāll 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. Itās impossible to place yourself fifteen minutes from downtown and not still be within civilization, unless you go straight east into Lake Michigan.
Itās 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 donāt 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, Iād 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 itās often far greater and far worse than what youāre being told.
-Clayton
2024 06 25
I do miss the days when I had a weekās worth of blog posts in the can and didnāt need to think of posting something every single day. Today, Iām busy catching up on a never-ending list of things to do. Iāll never catch up, of course. Triage is always necessary. Admittedly, I spend too much time dreaming and not enough time doing. But thatās just how I operate and I donāt 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, thereās also a lot of great stuff in Nashville. Itās not a bad place, but I donāt fully understand the hype. But there a lot of things I donāt 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 weekās worth of blog posts in the can and didnāt need to think of posting something every single day. Today, Iām busy catching up on a never-ending list of things to do. Iāll never catch up, of course. Triage is always necessary. Admittedly, I spend too much time dreaming and not enough time doing. But thatās just how I operate and I donāt 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, thereās also a lot of great stuff in Nashville. Itās not a bad place, but I donāt fully understand the hype. But there a lot of things I donāt understand.
-Clayton
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 itās 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 Iād 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 visitorās 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 fanās perspective. Sadly, my ambitions waned and I didnāt 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 wouldāve had a really special photobook project as a result. Even then, the rules werenāt 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. Letās play two! (Iām 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 itās 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 Iād 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 visitorās 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 fanās perspective. Sadly, my ambitions waned and I didnāt 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 wouldāve had a really special photobook project as a result. Even then, the rules werenāt 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. Letās play two! (Iām off to go shoot more, today)
-Clayton
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 ātoilā 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 ātoilā lovingly, of course.
-Clayton