2024 06 04
This video below entered my life over the weekend and Iām really glad it did, though my bank account took a hit as a result.
Alec Soth discusses two photobooks and how words relate to their pictures within. Tim Davisā Iām Looking Through You and Gilles Peressā Whatever You Say, Say Nothing.
Timās book is incredible and has been in heavy rotation lately at the studio, however, Alecās video sort of rudely reminded me that my habit of fully avoiding words in photobooks is something I need to address. Even as someone who fancies myself a wanna be writer and values good writing above maybe even photography itself, my instinct is to completely cut out the words, perhaps because they typically donāt serve a valid purpose in most photobooks and Iām forcing my brain to connect soley with the images, without changing their meaning. But thatās not really my choice to make! Books are put together with much work and consideration, and if the artist put the words in the book, I shouldnāt ignore them, even if perhaps sometimes itās to my detriment. Now, Iām excited to get my ass back to the studio and head straight for Timās book to take in the words he put into it to go with the images I have already consumed.
Gillesā book is set to arrive today. This is an insanely deep photobook project spanning 1,000 pages of images and an accompanying book with another nearly 1,000 pages or words and images. Plus it comes with a tote bag to contain everything. Normally, hearing about a project like this, Iād get super curious and then see the $456 price tag (marked down from $750 on amazon), then immediately move along to other distractions in order to turn my mind to different things; but Alec did such a great job talking about this book and how good it is, I mustered the courage to plop down the money and have it delivered.
Lately, Iāve been ālistening to the universe when it tells me something.ā This is a bit of a new approach to how I might normally operate and Iām not yet quite sure how it will play out. Itās a long-term process, afterall, but I do strongly think these small everyday decisions I am making now will compound into something bigger and more meaningful a decade from now. I bring this up because this video was the second time in a week Iād come across a photographer I trust mentioning this expensive book. Previously, Iād tune it out as Iām quite stressed about money these days, however, Iām listening to the universe and the universe wants me to spend $500 purchasing a photo book.
Iāll let you know in a decade whether or not it pays off.
-Clayton
Bare trees at Starved Rock, Illinois ā Massively compressed jpg for the sake of your bandwidth. March, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
This video below entered my life over the weekend and Iām really glad it did, though my bank account took a hit as a result.
Alec Soth discusses two photobooks and how words relate to their pictures within. Tim Davisā Iām Looking Through You and Gilles Peressā Whatever You Say, Say Nothing.
Timās book is incredible and has been in heavy rotation lately at the studio, however, Alecās video sort of rudely reminded me that my habit of fully avoiding words in photobooks is something I need to address. Even as someone who fancies myself a wanna-be writer and values good writing above maybe even photography itself, my instinct is to completely cut out the words. Perhaps itās because my brain goes first to the words and then to the images, which minimizes the visual impact. Or perhaps itās because they typically donāt serve a valid purpose in most photobooks and Iām forcing my brain to connect solely with the images without changing their meaning. But thatās not really my choice to make! Books are put together with much work and consideration, and if the artist put the words in the book, I shouldnāt ignore them. Now, Iām excited to get my ass back to the studio and head straight for Timās book to take in the words he put into it to compliment the images I have already consumed.
Gillesā book is set to arrive today. This is an insanely deep photobook project spanning 1,000 pages of images and an accompanying book with another nearly 1,000 pages of words and images. Plus it comes with a tote bag to contain everything! Normally, hearing about a project like this, Iād get super curious and then see the $456 price tag (marked down from $750 on amazon), then immediately move along to other distractions in order to turn my mind to different things; But this time Alec did such a great job talking about this book and how good it is, I mustered the courage to plop down the money and have it delivered.
Lately, Iāve been ālistening to the universe when it tells me something.ā This is a bit of a new approach to how I might normally operate and Iām not yet quite sure how it will play out. Itās a long-term process, afterall, but I do strongly think these small everyday decisions I am making now will compound into something bigger and more meaningful a decade from now. I bring this up because this video was the second time in a week Iād encountered a photographer whose opinion I trust mentioning this expensive book. Typically, Iād tune it out, as Iām quite stressed about money these days, however, Iām listening to the universe and the universe wants me to spend $500 purchasing this photo book.
Iāll let you know in a decade whether or not it paid off.
-Clayton
2024 04 25
When it comes to making photos, Iāve tended to be pretty vanilla throughout my professional career. Basically, whatever the most recent pro-level Canon SLR body is on the market is what Iāve used with little to no variation. Sure, I love their cameras (hit me about about a sponsorship!) and they do pretty much exactly what I need them to do, however, this was a mistake. Thankfully, Iāve been fully embracing using different tools for different jobs lately. After purchasing my first Ricoh and basically carrying it with me in my pocket everywhere I go, my horizons have been expanded and Iāve seen the light. Even now, after over a year of constant use and abuse, that the camera has an ever noticeable layer of dust lining the sensor, Iām finding myself not much annoyed about it. The dust, while yes maybe not ideal in most situations, also adds a bit of uniqueness to each image, like the imperfections of film or making a photograph through a window or reflective surface. Basically, finding ways to turn otherwise ordinary images into something that has a bit more character.
Itās been a trend for a few years now that photojournalists covering boring political assignments will use fun optical tricks to spice up otherwise bland photos of old, white, male politicians standing up on a stage in front of a mic. Using an iphone to add a mirrored reflection; shooting through sparkley stuff to add visual interest. Soon, I imagine, youāll see presidential press conferences (if we ever have those again) covered by the New York Times using a busted Holga with funky light leaks because, why not? Itās different.
-Clayton
Bare tree on a sunny winter afternoon, dusty Ricoh sensor for character. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
When it comes to making photos, Iāve tended to be pretty vanilla throughout my professional career from an equipment perspective. Basically, whatever the most recent pro-level Canon SLR body is on the market is what Iāve used with little to no variation, aside from mixing up my editing style. Sure, I love their cameras (reach out about about sponsorship opportunities!) and they do pretty much exactly what I need them to do, however, this was a mistake. Thankfully, Iāve been fully embracing using different tools for different jobs lately. After purchasing my first Ricoh (reach out about about sponsorship opportunities!) and basically carrying it with me in my pocket everywhere I go, my horizons have been expanded and Iāve seen the light! Even now (after over a year of constant use and abuse) that the camera has an ever noticeable layer of dust lining the sensor, forcing me to shoot everything at f2.8, Iām finding myself not much annoyed about it. The dust, while yes maybe not ideal in most situations, also adds a bit of uniqueness to each image, like the imperfections of film or making a photograph through a window or reflective surface. Basically, finding ways to turn otherwise ordinary images into something that has a bit more character.
Itās been a trend for a few years now that photojournalists covering boring political assignments will use fun optical tricks to spice up otherwise bland photos of old, white, male politicians standing on a stage in front of a mic. Using an iphone to add a mirrored reflection; shooting through sparkley stuff to add visual interest; greasing up your lens with a bit of spray tan. Soon, I imagine, youāll see presidential press conferences (if we ever have those again) covered by the New York Times using a busted Holga (reach out about about sponsorship opportunities!) with funky light leaks because, why not? Itās different.
-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.
Letās see if I canāt 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. Ā© 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.
Letās see if I canāt 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
2024 04 13
You ever hear something that just sticks with you for whatever reason? A while back I was either watching a youtube video or reading a twitter thread, I donāt remember, from a guy who spends a lot of time sleeping outside in various places while doing his best to avoid trouble from sketchy situations, the law, etc. It was a really interesting and detailed account filled with tips and tricks about how he gets by living off the land. I promptly forgot every detail except one little nugget, which is that he often sleeps up in trees. His reasoning is what really stuck with he: nobody bothers to look up.
I fancy myself quite observant, however, after reading this detail Iāve found myself glancing upward approximately 50% more frequently, often expecting to see someone camped out in a tree high above, just living their life without a care in the world. One dayā¦
-Clayton
Bare tree in winter as seen through the glass roof of my car. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
You ever hear something that just sticks with you for whatever reason? A while back I was either watching a youtube video or reading a twitter thread, I donāt remember, from a guy who spends a lot of time sleeping outside in various places while doing his best to avoid trouble from sketchy situations, the law, etc. It was a really interesting and detailed account filled with tips and tricks about how he gets by living off the land. I promptly forgot every detail except one little nugget, which is that he often sleeps up in trees. His reasoning is what really stuck with he: nobody bothers to look up.
I fancy myself quite observant, however, after reading this detail Iāve found myself glancing upward approximately 50% more frequently, often expecting to see someone camped out in a tree high above, just living their life without a care in the world. One dayā¦
-Clayton
2024 03 31
Itās Easter Sunday, so Iām off being a good Catholic boy. Shout out to my mom who is my #1 reader and un-paid PR person.
xoxo
-Clayton
PS - Iāll be in Nashville all next week for work. Letās see if I managed to pre-load enough blog posts before I left town to keep this daily blog rolling.
PPS - if you have any eating or drinking reccos in Nashville (Americaās most overrated city!), please let me know (I donāt dislike Nashville, itās just very much overrated)!
A winter stroll through Palmer Square Park. Hazy nights are a photographerās hall pass. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2023. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās Easter Sunday, so Iām off being a good Catholic boy. Shout out to my mom who is my #1 reader and un-paid PR person.
xoxo
-Clayton
PS - Iāll be in Nashville all next week for work. Letās see if I managed to pre-load enough blog posts before I left town to keep this daily blog rolling.
PPS - if you have any eating or drinking reccos in Nashville (Americaās most overrated city!), please let me know (I donāt dislike Nashville, itās just very much overrated)!
2024 03 28
Iām a writer now! In learning how to make a living at my new profession, I stumbled across this bit of wisdom from Jason Zweig of the WSJ who says there are three (3) ways to be a professional writer:
Lie to people who want to be lied to and youāll get rich.
Tell the truth to those who want the truth, and youāll make a living.
Tell the truth who those who want to be lied to, and youāll go broke.
Please come back tomorrow to read my breakdown on 50 ways to get insanely rich without doing a lick of work. I swear this list is vetted and is a favorite of Warren Buffet and Sir Edmund Blackadder. Blackadder did a ten-part Masterclass breaking down how heās made over $20 billion and only let in 24 students who each had to pay $1 million, which he donated to charity because heās a Sir. I was fortunate enough to be one of the class members and will release my gained wisdoms in tomorrowās blog to you, dear reader who wants to be lied to, in exchange for one page view to help inflate my depressed ego ā see you tomorrow!
-Clayton
PS- this Zweig nugget is brilliant and applies to life in general, not just writing. It was mentioned in Morgan Houselās book Same as Ever, which I will hopefully go into more in a future blog entry. Itās full of amazing wisdom, most of which can be found on his blog. His previous book The Psychology of Money is fantastic and highly recommended as well.
Bare apple tree in winter with a pretty sunset above. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Iām a writer now! In learning how to make a living at my new profession, I stumbled across this bit of wisdom from Jason Zweig of the WSJ who says there are three (3) ways to be a professional writer:
Lie to people who want to be lied to and youāll get rich.
Tell the truth to those who want the truth, and youāll make a living.
Tell the truth who those who want to be lied to, and youāll go broke.
Please come back tomorrow to read my breakdown on 50 ways to get insanely rich without doing a lick of work. I swear this list is vetted and is a favorite of Warren Buffet and Sir Edmund Blackadder. Blackadder did a ten-part Masterclass breaking down how heās made over $20 billion and only let in 24 students who each had to pay $1 million, which he donated to charity because heās a Sir. I was fortunate enough to be one of the class members and will release my gained wisdoms in tomorrowās blog to you, dear reader who wants to be lied to, in exchange for one page view to help inflate my depressed ego ā see you tomorrow!
-Clayton
PS- this Zweig nugget is brilliant and applies to life in general, not just writing. It was mentioned in Morgan Houselās book Same as Ever, which I will hopefully go into more in a future blog entry. Itās full of amazing wisdom, most of which can be found on his company blog. His previous book The Psychology of Money is fantastic and highly recommended as well.
2024 02 29
Iām going to become a photographer!
The real estate business is not what it used to be. It used to be that houses were tough to build and required years of training, expensive equipment, knowledge of a labyrinth of legal rules and regulations. These days, anyone can build a house with ease. Cheap tools from China and ample materials from our lax environmental laws have allowed houses to be made almost instantly and posted on social networks for anyone to bid on. The supply and demand has shifted greatly, meaning my compensation on each transaction is nearly zero. Basically, the only way to make a living as a real estate agent these days is to become an influencer, sell courses, convince new people to get their license and charge them for lessons, or to get a TV deal and turn your entire life into ācontent.ā
Itās because of this that Iāve decided to pivot my career, buy a camera, and become a professional photographer! The possibilities are endless! I can photograph headshots, weddings, parties, babies, houses (lol), food, cars, etc. People truly need photos of everything these days and ācontent is kingā they tell me, which means the supply and demand economics are more in my favor so long as Iām providing my clients with top notch work. Iām confident I can do this because my friend took a photography class in high school and I often helped with her projects. Iām also really getting into learning from the many photographers on YouTube who reveal all of their methods for free.
Please tell your friends and family I am now available for assignments worldwide. If youāve bought a house from me previously, I will hook you up with 20% off your first portrait or family session! Just use promo code #OLDCLIENTNEWFRIEND20
-Clayton
Wintry street scene on my block in Chicagoās Logan Square neighborhood. January, 2024 Ā© Clayton Hauck
Iām going to become a photographer!
The real estate business is not what it used to be. It used to be that houses were tough to build and required years of training, expensive equipment, knowledge of a labyrinth of legal rules and regulations. These days, anyone can build a house with ease. Cheap tools from China and ample materials from our lax environmental laws have allowed houses to be made almost instantly and posted on social networks for anyone to bid on. The supply and demand has shifted greatly, meaning my compensation on each transaction is nearly zero. Basically, the only way to make a living as a real estate agent these days is to become an influencer, sell courses, convince new people to get their license and charge them for lessons, or to get a TV deal and turn your entire life into ācontent.ā
Itās because of this that Iāve decided to pivot my career, buy a camera, and become a professional photographer! The possibilities are endless! I can photograph headshots, weddings, parties, babies, houses (lol), food, cars, etc. People truly need photos of everything these days and ācontent is kingā they tell me, which means the supply and demand economics are more in my favor so long as Iām providing my clients with top notch work. Iām confident I can do this because my friend took a photography class in high school and I often helped with her projects. Iām also really getting into learning from the many photographers on YouTube who reveal all of their methods for free.
Please tell your friends and family I am now available for assignments worldwide. If youāve bought a house from me previously, I will hook you up with 20% off your first portrait or family session! Just use promo code #OLDCLIENTNEWFRIEND20
-Clayton
PS- happy Leap Year!
2024 01 06
Because Nobody In The World knows about this website, it would be nice if a Top Tier Clandestine Spy Network started using it to communicate in the comments sections so I could get a little inside peek at how the world operates while I think up what to say the next day.
cc: @whitehouse (not the porn site), @joebiden, @cia, @fbi, @mossad, @isi, etc
-Clayton
Vertical or horizontal? I canāt decide. Also, do I love these images? I canāt decide. December, 2023. Chicago. Ā©Clayton Hauck
Because Nobody In The World knows about this website, it would be nice if a Top Tier Clandestine Spy Network started using it to communicate in the comments sections so I could get a little inside peek at how the world operates while I think up what to say the next day.
cc: @whitehouse (not the porn site), @joebiden, @cia, @fbi, @mossad, @isi, etc
-Clayton
2024 01 04
This album got me thinking about art and how music is, rightfully, among the most celebrated of art forms (and how photography is not even really considered art). Within a song, let alone an entire album, you have countless opportunities to connect with an audience. A catchy lyric, fun melody, weird sound, etc. Even the worldās most iconic photographs are like the equivalent of a single note, or perhaps on a good day a little jingle (photography books or collections is another story!). Sometimes a photographer will hit a home run and merge a striking image with a relevant global conversation and it can connect and have a deeper impact, like the memorable photojournalistic images through the years, but even my strongest images will be mostly forgotten by next Tuesday.
Anyway, this album is better than 99.86% of the worldās photographs.
Boy, youāre pessimistic on photography! Do you hate it? More on this later.
Enjoy!
-Clayton
Sloppy Bob. November, 2023. Chicago. Ā©Clayton Hauck
A fun album I recently came upon via Ezra Furmanās favorite albums of 2023 list:
This album got me thinking about art and how music is, rightfully, among the most celebrated of art forms (and how photography is not even really considered art). Within a song, let alone an entire album, you have countless opportunities to connect with an audience. A catchy lyric, fun melody, weird sound, etc. Even the worldās most iconic photographs are like the equivalent of a single note, or perhaps on a good day a little jingle (photography books or bodies of work is another story!). Sometimes a photographer will hit a home run and merge a striking image with a relevant global conversation and it can connect and have a deeper impact, like the memorable photojournalistic images through the years, but even my strongest images will be mostly forgotten by next Tuesday.
Anyway, this album is better than 99.86% of the worldās photographs.
Enjoy!
-Clayton
2024 01 01
Even years are better.
I was born on an odd year, on an odd day, in an odd month. You may say Iām odd, and thatās exactly why Iāve decided to ā after years of wanting but failing to ā start a daily photo blogā¢ļø at the ripe old (odd) age of 41!
Surely this will be my ticket to Photography Fame & (fortune, sadly, is no longer possible in the photography industry) Busy Work. You may even be blessed by musings and insights as good as this!
So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Weāll see how far we can get before the car runs out of juice.
Happy New Year.
Clayton
PS- Thanks to Richard Avedon for naming this website. More on that later.
Moon through trees. November, 2023. Wilmette. Ā©Clayton Hauck
Even years are better.
I was born on an odd year, on an odd day, in an odd month. You may say Iām odd, and thatās exactly why Iāve decided to ā after years of wanting but failing to ā start a daily photo blogā¢ļø at the ripe old (odd) age of 41!
Surely this will be my ticket to Photography Fame & (fortune, sadly, is no longer possible in the photography industry) Busy Work. You may even be blessed by musings and insights as good as this!
So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Weāll see how far we can get before the car runs out of juice.
Happy New Year.
-Clayton
PS- Thanks to Richard Avedon for naming this website. More on that later.