2024 12 21
December has been a whirlwind. After a relentless amount of events at the studio, a large commercial project, magazine cover shoot, and much more, today is my first day off this month. While that is nice, the fact that we’re now a few days out from Christmas and gift exchanging, I am feeling all sorts of guilt and shame by prioritizing myself and my businesses over family and tradition. Clearly, I either need to find better balance or hire a personal assistant to do my shopping for me so I can keep up.
Without putting all of the blame on myself, I just wanted to share one of the challenges of being a freelancer/small business owner. We’re often forced to work ourselves to the bone at the times it is least convenient to do so, then immediately switch into chill family mode and act like we have all of our shit together. I can’t even imagine doing this with children in the mix.
I love you mom & dad! I’ll see you in a few days and I hope you’re not upset with me if I show up empty handed! I will, at least, have the gift of knowing your son can cover his rent for a few more months, and that’s the greatest gift a boy can give! Yes, this is sarcasm and clearly an attempt to soften the blow, as I know my mom will be reading this. Again, I’m thinking about myself… happy holidays & off to Costco we go!
-Clayton
A portrait of my parents. Wheeling, Illinois. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
December has been a whirlwind. After a relentless amount of events at the studio, a large commercial project, magazine cover shoot, and much more, today is my first day off this month. While that is nice, the fact that we’re now a few days out from Christmas and gift exchanging, I am feeling all sorts of guilt and shame by prioritizing myself and my businesses over family and tradition. Clearly, I either need to find better balance or hire a personal assistant to do my shopping for me so I can keep up.
Without putting all of the blame on myself, I just wanted to share one of the challenges of being a freelancer/small business owner. We’re often forced to work ourselves to the bone at the times it is least convenient to do so, then immediately switch into chill family mode and act like we have all of our shit together. I can’t even imagine doing this with children in the mix.
I love you mom & dad! I’ll see you in a few days and I hope you’re not upset with me if I show up empty handed! I will, at least, have the gift of knowing your son can cover his rent for a few more months, and that’s the greatest gift a boy can give! Yes, this is sarcasm and clearly an attempt to soften the blow, as I know my mom will be reading this. Again, I’m thinking about myself… happy holidays & off to Costco we go!
-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 02 22
So you want to be a thought leader?
Let me preface this by mentioning how much I hate the term “thought leader” which gets tossed around the web all willy-nilly these days. It’s a smart-sounding way of saying social media influencer, where the quality of the thoughts have far less importance than their reach.
That said, I’m looking to transition from photographer to thought leader. If you know anyone looking for hot-fresh takes and high-quality thoughts, please pass them the URL to this weblog.
Thanks in advance.
-Clayton
Joe’s Pizza has some of the best pies in the Chicagoland area. I grew up on these pizza pies. Wheeling, Illinois. January, 2024 © Clayton Hauck
So you want to be a thought leader?
Let me preface this by mentioning how much I hate the term “thought leader” which gets tossed around the web all willy-nilly these days. It’s a smart-sounding way of saying social media influencer, where the quality of the thoughts have far less importance than their reach.
That said, I’m looking to transition from photographer to thought leader. If you know anyone looking for hot-fresh takes and high-quality thoughts, please pass them the URL to this weblog.
Thanks in advance.
-Clayton
2024 01 26
A social media app that translates people in real time using AI will become a global sensation. It will be like Chatroulette but without all the masturbation. People will briefly come together and unite in wonder and awe of how amazing this technology is! We can communicate with each other despite the language barrier. Then, slowly, the brands will start to infiltrate this miracle and slip in sponsored content here and there. Who’s to know, right? Well, one day the algorithm will glitch out or maybe an executive seeking a raise will ramp the promotional content knob to maximum and every sentence said by every person across the world for one full day will be: "Tide Pods are cool and get my clothes clean and I don’t dare eat them [chuckle in the style of user].”
Then, everyone will delete the app and go back to disliking everyone else, while forgetting this miracle technology even exists.
-Clayton
Row of apartment buildings at night photographed while ordering a pizzas across the street at Joe’s. Wheeling, Illinois. January, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
A social media app that translates people in real time using AI to whatever language the user selects will become a global sensation. It will be like Chatroulette without all the masturbation. People across the globe will unite in wonder and awe by how amazing this technology is! We can communicate with each other despite the language barrier. Then, slowly, the brands will start to infiltrate this miracle and slip in sponsored content here and there. Who’s to know, right? Well, one day the algorithm will glitch or maybe an executive seeking a raise will ramp the promotional content knob to maximum and every sentence said by every person across the world for one full day will be: "Tide Pods are cool and get my clothes clean and I don’t dare eat them [chuckle in the style of user].”
Then, everyone will delete the app and go back to disliking everyone else, while forgetting this miracle technology even exists.
-Clayton