2024 11 12
Self-promotional post today, because it’s going to be a fun one and you should totally be there! I’m hosting an event in my studio space next Thursday for the release of Crust Fund Pizza’s new pizza cookbook, Super Pizza World! Tickets are $75 but that also gets you a copy of the book (which is awesome and I have some writing in there myself!), along with a bunch of food and drinks. Plus, all the money collected is going to benefit a nonprofit organization in the building, Chicago Mobile Makers. As of writing this, there are about ten tickets remaining, so if this sounds fun, click this link asap for more info and to snag a spot!
-Clayton
Sipping a tasty Wisconsin Old Fashioned in summer. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Self-promotional post today, because it’s going to be a fun one and you should totally be there! I’m hosting an event in my studio space next Thursday for the release of Crust Fund Pizza’s new pizza cookbook, Super Pizza World! Tickets are $75 but that also gets you a copy of the book (which is awesome and I have some writing in there myself!), along with a bunch of food and drinks. Plus, all the money collected is going to benefit a nonprofit organization in the building, Chicago Mobile Makers. As of writing this, there are about ten tickets remaining, so if this sounds fun, click this link asap for more info and to snag a spot!
-Clayton
2024 11 05
It’s election day. Please make sure you vote! I won’t get into the politics beyond this, aside to say this will be a historic day in American history, regardless the outcome.
Be safe, be kind, and good luck to all.
-Clayton
Trump fan on the roll during the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
It’s election day. Please make sure you vote! While far from a perfect candidate, I think Kamala is the clear choice for the top job. I won’t get into the politics beyond this, aside to say this will be a historic day in American, regardless the outcome.
Be safe, be kind, and good luck to all.
-Clayton
2024 11 02
The other day, I asked a friend if she wanted to get involved in one of my endless list of side projects. She politely declined by saying she was “underwater”. This caused me to realize I’ve been fully submerged myself for three years now, like a fish swimming around towards whatever task it deems most important or most interesting any given day or moment. I’m starting to wonder how sustainable this approach to life is!
That said, the last three years of my life have been perhaps the best (recency bias may play a factor, sure, but this is an honest assessment!) as I’ve gotten married, explored a ton of new things, built out my studio which I’m incredible proud of, made endless new contacts, focused more on my creative outlets (was just out working on a personal project yesterday), ditched a bunch of less-healthy distractions (stock market, politics and geopolitics, largely), and a bunch more I’m probably not thinking of. On top of all this, however, the last few years have also easily been the most stressful of my adult life from a financial perspective. I often wonder if these two divergent trends are related (I think they are, to an extent) and how my happiness might be affected if I was rolling in cash (happiness is over-rated but money is even more so, imo!).
Anyway.
These are some thoughts I should further explore in writing in the months ahead. Today, I attempt to swim to the surface to catch a view of things.
-Clayton
Staying aflot to catch some lunch. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
The other day, I asked a friend if she wanted to get involved in one of my endless list of side projects. She politely declined by saying she was “underwater”. This caused me to realize I’ve been fully submerged myself for three years now, like a fish swimming around towards whatever task it deems most important or most interesting any given day or moment. I’m starting to wonder how sustainable this approach to life is!
That said, the last three years of my life have been perhaps the best (recency bias may play a factor, sure, but this is an honest assessment!) as I’ve gotten married, explored a ton of new things, built out my studio which I’m incredible proud of, made endless new contacts, focused more on my creative outlets (was just out working on a personal project yesterday), ditched a bunch of less-healthy distractions (stock market, politics and geopolitics, largely), and a bunch more I’m probably not thinking of. On top of all this, however, the last few years have also easily been the most stressful of my adult life from a financial perspective. I often wonder if these two divergent trends are related (I think they are, to an extent) and how my happiness might be affected if I was rolling in cash (happiness is over-rated but money is even more so, imo!).
Anyway.
These are some thoughts I should further explore in writing in the months ahead. Today, I attempt to swim to the surface to catch a view of things.
-Clayton
2024 10 28
Recently I stumbled upon a tweet that really resonated with me. Someone had posted some clips of basketball games in Europe, with wildly enthusiastic fans, loud chanting, dancing, yelling, etc. The poster was wondering why NBA games in the US have nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm. You’d think that the world’s premiere league, in the country basketball was invented, being played by the world’s best players, would inspire fans to raise their level of enthusiasm to match. Brilliantly, someone responded with the most eloquently-simple reply that completely summed up the sole reason crowds in the US are often tame: a screen shot of ticket prices for an NBA game; each seat costing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
Back in 2016, I was fortunate enough to be a dedicated Cubs fan. That season, I attended a few dozen games at Wrigley Field (including game five!) and the atmosphere was usually incredible. Of course, the Cubs went on to win the World Series to conclude their storybook season. I recall a few days after they beat Cleveland, while coming off a massive life hangover with Trump winning the election to become president, I had a realization that really cheered me up. The Cubs roster was young and all of the contracts had many years remaining on them. The idea that the Cubs might be a new baseball dynasty, providing me with entertaining ball for years to come, really cheered me up.
As it played out, the Cubs did not maintain their level of excellence and the team ownership pulled their games from television (unless you subscribed to their own service), so I was no longer even able to watch games. I haven’t been much of a Cubs fan since then, but I bring all of this up because perhaps the even bigger reason I lost interest in maintaining my fandom was that going to games was no longer fun! After the team won their first Series in a century, the tickets become hot. Everyone wanted to hang out at Wrigley to watch the lovable no-longer-losers. As a result, ticket prices went way up. Ownership was thrilled and making tons of money, surely. Vast sections of the stadium, once open to anyone, got roped off and turned into special-access sections at elevated prices. All of this change severely rubbed off on the vibe inside the stadium. You could clearly feel it, if you were paying attention, as many people filling the seats no longer were. The wild enthusiasm from the previous season was severely muted and the team struggled to win games.
This idea that expensive things are obviously better is something that I have rejected, thankfully, my entire life. In fact, expensive things are often far worse than whatever you can grab in the discount bin. While my concept of how and why money ruins things is still quite vague and undefined, I do think it goes a long way in explaining why this country, specifically, is going through some shit right now (to put it lightly). Too many people have far too much money. And this is not to say I think socialism is the answer, because I don’t. But clearly you can’t buy taste and right now we’ve got thousands of people out there thinking their money can buy whatever influence they want it to without realizing it doesn’t quite work like that.
-Clayton
Busted car, creative decoration. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Recently I stumbled upon a tweet that really resonated with me. Someone had posted some clips of basketball games in Europe, with wildly enthusiastic fans, loud chanting, dancing, yelling, etc. The poster was wondering why NBA games in the US have nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm. You’d think that the world’s premiere league, in the country basketball was invented, being played by the world’s best players, would inspire fans to raise their level of enthusiasm to match. Brilliantly, someone responded with the most eloquently-simple reply that completely summed up the sole reason crowds in the US are often tame: a screen shot of ticket prices for an NBA game; each seat costing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
Back in 2016, I was fortunate enough to be a dedicated Cubs fan. That season, I attended a few dozen games at Wrigley Field (including the game five!) and the atmosphere was usually incredible. Of course, the Cubs went on to win the World Series to conclude their storybook season. I recall a few days after they beat Cleveland, while coming off a massive life hangover with Trump winning the election to become president, I had a realization that really cheered me up. The Cubs roster was young and all of the contracts had many years remaining on them. The idea that the Cubs might be a new baseball dynasty, providing me with entertaining ball for years to come, really cheered me up.
As it played out, the Cubs did not maintain their level of excellence and the team ownership pulled their games from television (unless you subscribed to their own service), so I was no longer even able to watch games. I haven’t been much of a Cubs fan since then, but I bring all of this up because perhaps the even bigger reason I lost interest in maintaining my fandom was that going to games was no longer fun! After the team won their first Series in a century, the tickets become hot. Everyone wanted to hang out at Wrigley to watch the lovable no-longer-losers. As a result, ticket prices went way up. Ownership was thrilled and making tons of money, surely. Vast sections of the stadium, once open to anyone, got roped off and turned into special-access sections at elevated prices. All of this change severely rubbed off on the vibe inside the stadium. You could clearly feel it, if you were paying attention, as many people filling the seats no longer were. The wild enthusiasm from the previous season was severely muted and the team struggled to win games.
This idea that expensive things are obviously better is something that I have rejected, thankfully, my entire life. In fact, expensive things are often far worse than whatever you can grab in the discount bin. While my concept of how and why money ruins things is still quite vague and undefined, I do think it goes a long way in explaining why this country, specifically, is going through some shit right now (to put it lightly). Too many people have far too much money. And this is not to say I think socialism is the answer, because I don’t. But clearly you can’t buy taste and right now we’ve got thousands of people out there thinking their money can buy whatever influence they want it to without realizing it doesn’t quite work like that.
So many of us are clinging to our cash, willing to overlook whatever traces of morals we have left after decades of excess, in a desperate attempt to continue to attend bland sporting events.
-Clayton
2024 10 25
Today’s picture comes from the future! This is because I posted it the day after I was supposed to. Don’t tell anyone.
Depending on how you look at it, though, it was actually early. People seeing this post from a far-away galaxy won’t have access for it for perhaps millions of years.
My audience is huge on Planet Clayborg in the Zxx3 system.
-Clayton
Star-filled night sky over St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Today’s picture comes from the future! This is because I posted it the day after I was supposed to. Don’t tell anyone.
Depending on how you look at it, though, it was actually early. People seeing this post from a far-away galaxy won’t have access for it for perhaps millions of years.
My audience is huge on Planet Clayborg in the Zxx3 system.
-Clayton
2024 10 13
Off day today. That said, I woke up early and watched the world’s largest rocket launch and then immediately land back on the tower it launched from. Space X is truly game-changing technology and, I think, far less appreciated (for better or for worse) than it should be. The things they are now making routine will change the world in ways we can’t yet imagine, far beyond simply putting things into space or going to Mars.
-Clayton
Chilling on the lake. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Off day today. That said, I woke up early and watched the world’s largest rocket launch and then immediately land back on the tower it launched from. Space X is truly game-changing technology and, I think, far less appreciated (for better or for worse) than it should be. The things they are now making routine will change the world in ways we can’t yet imagine, far beyond simply putting things into space or going to Mars.
-Clayton
2024 10 09
This morning, I was reading the newsletter of one of my favorite photographers, delivered conveniently to my inbox, and the last line hit me as being very nice. Spoiler alert, the line is this: Maybe the real adventure isn't in escaping to breathtaking vistas, but in finding wonder in the places everyone else is trying to leave behind.
I love the sentiment. Maybe one day I will deliver profound insights directly to your inbox. Until then, you have to come to this here blog to find whatever it is I’m putting down.
Oh yeah, you can find Noah’s newsletter here.
-Clayton
Artist's rendering of what photographer Noah Kalina might look like. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This morning, I was reading the newsletter of one of my favorite photographers, delivered conveniently to my inbox, and the last line hit me as being very nice. Spoiler alert, the line is this: Maybe the real adventure isn't in escaping to breathtaking vistas, but in finding wonder in the places everyone else is trying to leave behind.
Being a midwest boy for life, I love the sentiment. Maybe one day I will deliver profound insights directly to your inbox. Until then, you have to come to this here blog to find whatever it is I’m putting down.
Oh yeah, you can find Noah’s newsletter here.
-Clayton
2024 10 07
The clock just struck midnight and I haven’t posted yet today (yesterday). Been a busy boy, still.
It’s been a minute since I’ve posted a Busted Car™️ and this might be my favorite one yet! This was photographed while briefly in downtown Milwaukee on our way home from vacation in the Northwoods. The RNC was happening and this is probably the best photo I made in the few hours we spent in the hellscape that it was.
On a semi-related note, I can’t believe the election is right around the corner. Fuck.
-Clayton
Another busted car. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
The clock just struck midnight and I haven’t posted yet today (yesterday). Been a busy boy, still.
It’s been a minute since I’ve posted a Busted Car™️ and this might be my favorite one yet! This was photographed while briefly in downtown Milwaukee on our way home from vacation in the Northwoods. The RNC was happening and this is probably the best photo I made in the few hours we spent in the hellscape that it was.
On a semi-related note, I can’t believe the election is right around the corner. Fuck.
-Clayton
2024 10 06
The recent flooding caused from Hurricane Helene was obviously disastrous. One depressing observation I’ve had since then is the discourse on social media. A large number of people (and/or bots, influencer accounts, foreign hostile disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theorists, etc, etc) have been commenting about how the government has been either actively involved in “controlling” the weather or delaying the response, for any number of reasons.
My current thinking is that I need to finally rid myself of the twitter app, as it seems to be actively working to increase tensions ahead of the election. The videos being fed to me are wild, terrifying, grim, and hard to turn away from. All this to say, the video below popped into my youtube feed while editing images tonight and, while also intense, was a rather authentic representation of what it was like to live through the current disaster from a first person perspective. It was definitely eye opening in a number of ways.
If you are curious about what went down but want to avoid the extreme social media spin takes, the video below is worth your time.
-Clayton
Water. It is you, yet it will kill you every chance it gets. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
The recent flooding caused from Hurricane Helene was obviously disastrous. One depressing observation I’ve had since then is the discourse on social media. A large number of people (and/or bots, influencer accounts, foreign hostile disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theorists, etc, etc) have been commenting about how the government has been either actively involved in “controlling” the weather or delaying the response, for any number of reasons.
My current thinking is that I need to finally rid myself of the twitter app, as it seems to be actively working to increase tensions ahead of the election. The videos being fed to me are wild, terrifying, grim, and hard to turn away from. All this to say, the video below popped into my youtube feed while editing images tonight and, while also intense, was a rather authentic representation of what it was like to live through the current disaster from a first person perspective. It was definitely eye opening in a number of ways.
If you are curious about what went down but want to avoid the extreme social media spin takes, the video below is worth your time.
-Clayton
2024 10 05
I started writing this after hearing Jon Stewart’s interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates and continued writing it this morning while listening to a This American Life’s episode from firsthand accounts of the kidnappings in Israel/Gaza, along with seeing this tweet about a possible impending strike or invasion of Iran happening right now.
I won’t claim to have any answers or point any fingers. I am merely trying to better understand, which, if I did have any ideas on what to do, it would be this (while acknowledging that mass-understanding is a remarkably hard, if not impossible, task).
Ta-Nehisi Coates said something on Jon Stewart that really stuck with me. On his recent trip to Lebanon, he was struck by the simple act of hearing, from Palestinians, what their issues are. It’s a common-sense idea that usually goes ignored. Hearing, and understanding, the perspective of the other side. Once you realize they are also humans with similar thoughts and concerns as yourself, it becomes quite hard to justify the endless bombing campaign being made against them.
Tit for tat forever.
The conflicts in the Middle East are vastly complicated to the point they have become a cliche. Personally, I’ve been critical of Israel’s handling of their response to the brutal invasion of their territory, in large part because I have been to Lebanon and talked with Palestinians myself. They were sane, and logical, and passionate. One guy, roughly my age, told me he would never in his lifetime be okay with Israel… existing. Then we went and casually grabbed beers at a bar (where he also described horrific events that happened during the previous war). These extreme thoughts and ideas are commonplace on both sides because of the decades of back-and-forth violence and escalation.
Once you see this perspective firsthand, you realize the price that will need to be paid in order for one side to get their way, and it quickly becomes untenable. Surely, diplomacy is the only possible solution, and for that you need give, not just take.
This is all to say, I also think Israel has been right and justified to an extent. Both sides are guilty of horrible behavior and both sides have been victims of it as well. When you are the clearly dominant force, as is Israel and the United States in most conflicts to have taken place in our lifetime, if you act as the bully you should expect the bruise to your reputation. What worries me most about this conflict, which gets largely ignored, is that it’s not as one-sided as most people realize. Iran is an active participant. That is where things can snowball, quickly. That is where I now fear Israel sees an “opportunity” to act, now, swiftly and dramatically, in order to cease the moment, regardless the consequences.
We’ll eventually reach a tipping point and opinions will change. Possibly after millions of people are dead — but let’s pray it doesn’t come to that. It’s ironic that religion is so much at the core of these issues because praying is really the only option for most of us looking on in horror at what is now playing out. Praying, and hopefully, despite the darkness, a bit of understanding.
-Clayton
Money: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems! St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I started writing this after hearing Jon Stewart’s interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates and continued writing it this morning while listening to a This American Life’s episode from firsthand accounts of the kidnappings in Israel/Gaza, along with seeing this tweet about a possible impending strike or invasion of Iran happening right now.
I won’t claim to have any answers or point any fingers. I am merely trying to better understand, which, if I did have any ideas on what to do, it would be this (while acknowledging that mass-understanding is a remarkably hard, if not impossible, task).
Ta-Nehisi Coates said something on Jon Stewart that really stuck with me. On his recent trip to Lebanon, he was struck by the simple act of hearing, from Palestinians, what their issues are. It’s a common-sense idea that usually goes ignored. Hearing, and understanding, the perspective of the other side. Once you realize they are also humans with similar thoughts and concerns as yourself, it becomes quite hard to justify the endless bombing campaign being made against them.
Tit for tat forever.
The conflicts in the Middle East are vastly complicated to the point they have become a cliche. Personally, I’ve been critical of Israel’s handling of their response to the brutal invasion of their territory, in large part because I have been to Lebanon and talked with Palestinians myself. They were sane, and logical, and passionate. One guy, roughly my age, told me he would never in his lifetime be okay with Israel… existing. Then we went and casually grabbed beers at a bar (where he also described horrific events that happened during the previous war). These extreme thoughts and ideas are commonplace on both sides because of the decades of back-and-forth violence and escalation.
Once you see this perspective firsthand, you realize the price that will need to be paid in order for one side to get their way, and it quickly becomes untenable. Surely, diplomacy is the only possible solution, and for that you need give, not just take.
This is all to say, I also think Israel has been right and justified to an extent. Both sides are guilty of horrible behavior and both sides have been victims of it as well. When you are the clearly dominant force, as is Israel and the United States in most conflicts to have taken place in our lifetime, if you act as the bully you should expect the bruise to your reputation. What worries me most about this conflict, which gets largely ignored, is that it’s not as one-sided as most people realize. Iran is an active participant. That is where things can snowball, quickly. That is where I now fear Israel sees an “opportunity” to act, now, swiftly and dramatically, in order to cease the moment, regardless the consequences.
We’ll eventually reach a tipping point and opinions will change. Possibly after millions of people are dead — but let’s pray it doesn’t come to that. It’s ironic that religion is so much at the core of these issues because praying is really the only option for most of us looking on in horror at what is now playing out. Praying, and hopefully, despite the darkness, a bit of understanding.
-Clayton
2024 10 04
95 50 (random) Opinions:
roller coasters are fun
pizza is delicious
tacos are delicious and equally as good as pizza
trains are severely underrated in the US
Europe, while great, is an overrated American tourist travel destination
Rome is much better than Florence
cats are better than dogs, but the best dogs are better than average cats
photography is amazing, however, steadily losing its edge
if I dedicated my entire life to being a musician, I could probably make it work
being very poor and being very rich can give people similar carefree mindsets, while being middle class can be a constant hassle
My half-drank Wisconsin Old Fashioned at Blink Bonnie, the best supper club in all the land. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
95 50 (random) Opinions:
roller coasters are fun
pizza is delicious
tacos are delicious and equally as good as pizza
trains are severely underrated in the US
Europe, while great, is an overrated American tourist travel destination
Rome is much better than Florence
cats are better than dogs, but the best dogs are better than average cats
photography is amazing, however, steadily losing its edge
if I dedicated my entire life to being a musician, I could probably make it work
being very poor and being very rich can give people similar carefree mindsets, while being middle class can be a constant hassle
my opinions are getting longer as I go
simple is usually better
Mexico is a massively underrated country
Japan is easily one of the best countries
Pittsburgh is one of the best cities in America
bitcoin is fascinating, while polarizing, no matter what the origin actually is
Ai will change the world, but more so in the less obvious ways that currently worry us
nuclear power should be far more utilized by modern society
nuclear fusion power generation will eventually be figured out and either solve all world’s big problems or create a human-induced hellscape
the sun is amazing. like, how does that even happen?!
the fact that the sun is one of trillions of other suns doesn’t make any sense
this very well could be some kind of simulation
god, which ever one you believe in, likely isn’t a thing, but surely something god-like exists, beyond our comprehension
the best US state is probably California
Texas is good, but I’d never want to live there
the best city in Texas is Houston, actually maybe it’s Austin?
Chicago is leagues better than Houston
San Antonio is an underrated city
Austin is an overrated city
professional sports leagues have lost some of their charms as they’ve become such big business
baseball is the best sport, but far from the most entertaining one
books are better than movies but movies are far more accessible
shows are really just long ass movies
one fun thing to do in a city you are visiting is take the train to the last stop and get off
opinions are like, your opinion, man
The Big Lebowski is not the Coen Brothers’ best film, but it is great
Barton Fink is the Coen Brothers’ best film
There Will Be Blood is probably my favorite film
acting, as a job, is a crazy job
rivers are neat
massive solar flare is a natural disaster that worries me, probably because I live in Chicago and don’t have to worry about the obvious ones
Chicago is an underrated city
rivers are better than lakes
the US relies far too heavily on cars and trucks and should better utilize our waterways
China is a fascinating place
Russia is a fascinating place
both China and Russia will look far different than they do now in a few decades in ways we probably can’t predict
history is written by the winners
school is overrated but also very important for a functioning society
Jet Lag the game on youtube is one of my favorite shows and I wish I came up with the idea and did it myself
-Clayton
2024 10 03
One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.
Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.
-Clayton
Brian setting up his telescope. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.
Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.
-Clayton
2024 10 01
Notes From a Podcast (a semi-regular ongoing series??)
PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf episode 82 - Matthew Genitempo
While editing an endless pool of images, I often listen to Sasha’s great podcast full of interviews with fine art photographers (is there a better label than fine art photographer? photographer, I guess?). I feel the need to specify: not commercial photography, which is what I’m personally more familiar with. This was a standout episode and very much worth a listen, however the following things stood out prominently.
One: Matthew said he gives himself a geographical boundary and then goes out to make work and see what comes back; see what the pictures are telling him, instead of going out and trying to illustrate a picture he has in his head. His recent book project (Dogbreath) was made in Tuscon, Arizona because he was drawn to the distinct sunlight quality and unique urban setting (you see things that are new to you and it sparks your imagination). He visited a school and found the local photo students were not as excited about their own familiar city as he was. Each morning, he’d begin his day with a jog and use it to scout the territory and even meet people that became subjects in the book.
I love all of this and strongly agree with the sentiments. My own personal project began this year with “Illinois outside of Cook County” as my boundaries. Quickly, I’ve learned these boundaries are likely too large, however, I’ve also been listening to what the images are telling me, and themes and ideas are slowly emerging and my approach is adapting. Hopefully next year I will have more time to dedicate to this project, but I loved hearing and learning from Matthew’s experiences in his existing book projects.
Two: Sasha made an amazing baseball player slump analogy. When a player isn’t performing, usually either their mechanics are off or they are pressing. They are trying to hard and overthinking it, instead of going on instinct. An artist works best under the same circumstances. Let the ball come to you and make contact. Don’t force it.
This analogy is amazing and I strongly agree with it. The other day, I was discussing my approach with a friend and explaining to him how, on my smaller shoots, I operate mostly on feel, while doing everything myself. Lights go up, find an angle, find a power setting to match some settings on the camera, ambient lights are considered, emotions of the subject are considered, etc, etc, all mostly on auto-pilot. Comparing this to approach to my commercial jobs, where the final direction and style are usually pre-determined and there is a crew constantly awaiting your direction isn’t always an easy task for me, because my intuition is to feel it out first, then act.
Three: There’s a quote from Judith Joy Ross that Matthew loves and thinks of as one of the formative ways he looks at photography and helped open him up: “I have a large beautiful wooden camera. I’m a quick talker and I can convince people in a few seconds because I’m sincerely interested in them, but I am more interested in capturing what I see in them. It’s not that I want to be their friend, it’s that I see their life and it’s amazing and I want to put it in an image. It’s a short but deep connection. Then I go back to being alone, but have one more lighting bug in a bottle. One more piece of evidence as to who we are.
This is beautiful and I aim to internalize this sentiment and allow it to help me in my process. Often, my instinct is to make photographs of people without them being aware of it. This is an approach which is increasingly frowned upon my a society sensitive to a constant and over-bearing surveillance. I love the idea of better connecting with my subjects and then lowering the barriers to allow them to be themselves. This is my approach on every commercial project I undertake and there’s no reason I can’t also bring it into my personal work. Even if it takes more effort and won’t always work, I think it’s worth the effort.
Two final details that I jotted down and enjoyed:
Robert Adams talks about “the gift picture” … one image that sort of ties a project together and you can work off of.
Sasha: “There’s drudgery in every dream job” … on packing books into boxes all, day, long. Or, in my case, committing to write daily about it all.
-Clayton
Moonlight over the horizon. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Notes From a Podcast (a semi-regular ongoing series??)
PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf episode 82 - Matthew Genitempo
While editing an endless pool of images, I often listen to Sasha’s great podcast full of interviews with fine art photographers (is there a better label than fine art photographer? photographer, I guess?). I feel the need to specify: not commercial photography, which is what I’m personally more familiar with. This was a standout episode and very much worth a listen, however the following things stood out prominently.
One: Matthew said he gives himself a geographical boundary and then goes out to make work and see what comes back; see what the pictures are telling him, instead of going out and trying to illustrate a picture he has in his head. His recent book project (Dogbreath) was made in Tucson, Arizona because he was drawn to the distinct sunlight quality and unique urban setting (you see things that are new to you and it sparks your imagination). He visited a school and found the local photo students were not as excited about their own familiar city as he was. Each morning, he’d begin his day with a jog and use it to scout the territory and even meet people that became subjects in the book.
I love all of this and strongly agree with the sentiments. My own personal project began this year with “Illinois outside of Cook County” as my boundaries. Quickly, I’ve learned these boundaries are likely too large, however, I’ve also been listening to what the images are telling me, and themes and ideas are slowly emerging and my approach is adapting. Hopefully next year I will have more time to dedicate to this project, but I loved hearing and learning from Matthew’s experiences in his existing book projects.
Two: Sasha made an amazing baseball player slump analogy. When a player isn’t performing, usually either their mechanics are off or they are pressing. They are trying to hard and overthinking it, instead of going on instinct. An artist works best under the same circumstances. Let the ball come to you and make contact. Don’t force it.
This analogy is amazing and I strongly agree with it. The other day, I was discussing my approach with a friend and explaining to him how, on my smaller shoots, I operate mostly on feel, while doing everything myself. Lights go up, find an angle, find a power setting to match some settings on the camera, ambient lights are considered, emotions of the subject are considered, etc, etc, all mostly on auto-pilot. Comparing this to approach to my commercial jobs, where the final direction and style are usually pre-determined and there is a crew constantly awaiting your direction isn’t always an easy task for me, because my intuition is to feel it out first, then act.
Three: There’s a quote from Judith Joy Ross that Matthew loves and thinks of as one of the formative ways he looks at photography and helped open him up: “I have a large beautiful wooden camera. I’m a quick talker and I can convince people in a few seconds because I’m sincerely interested in them, but I am more interested in capturing what I see in them. It’s not that I want to be their friend, it’s that I see their life and it’s amazing and I want to put it in an image. It’s a short but deep connection. Then I go back to being alone, but have one more lighting bug in a bottle. One more piece of evidence as to who we are.
This is beautiful and I aim to internalize this sentiment and allow it to help me in my process. Often, my instinct is to make photographs of people without them being aware of it. This is an approach which is increasingly frowned upon by a society sensitive to a constant and over-bearing surveillance. I love the idea of first better connecting with my subjects and then lowering the barriers to allow them to be themselves. This is my approach on every commercial project I undertake and there’s no reason I can’t also bring it into my personal work. Even if it takes more effort and won’t always work, I think it’s worth the effort.
Two final details that I jotted down and enjoyed:
Robert Adams talks about “the gift picture” … one image that sort of ties a project together and you can work off of.
Sasha: “There’s drudgery in every dream job” … on packing books into boxes all, day, long. Or, in my case, committing to write daily about it all.
-Clayton
EPISODE LINKS:
podcast link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3jMjkuu3kPl0N8GxX3tEZZ
photographer’s website: https://www.matthewgenitempo.com/dogbreath-1
to read: Core Curriculum https://books.apple.com/us/book/core-curriculum/id949942181
2024 09 29
Up against the deadline, yet again. I’d love for this space to be a bit more photo-centric, to give me a break from writing something each and every day, even though that was sort of the reason for doing this in the first place. Maybe we take the website in a new direction next year. I was thinking wordpress might be the move, however, apparently wordpress is a mess these days as well. The internet is really losing its charm, isn’t it? I miss the days of pageview counters and blogrolls and animated gifs. Simpler times.
I’ll get back to posting things maybe worth reading one of these days…
-Clayton
A night scene. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Up against the deadline, yet again. I’d love for this space to be a bit more photo-centric, to give me a break from writing something each and every day, even though that was sort of the reason for doing this in the first place. Maybe we take the website in a new direction next year. I was thinking wordpress might be the move, however, apparently wordpress is a mess these days as well. The internet is really losing its charm, isn’t it? I miss the days of pageview counters and blogrolls and animated gifs. Simpler times.
I’ll get back to posting things maybe worth reading one of these days…
-Clayton
2024 09 26
You miss posting one day, and that turns into two days, which then turns into a week. I missed posting yesterday, as I was busy working and then immediately connected with friends for dinner, which turned into an all-night celebration. I’m allowing myself grace by posting this image, today, under yesterday’s date. Let’s see if I can get around to making a post happen today, now.
-Clayton, a busy boy.
Night in the Northwoods. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
You miss posting one day, and that turns into two days, which then turns into a week. I missed posting yesterday, as I was busy working and then immediately connected with friends for dinner, which turned into an all-night celebration. I’m allowing myself grace by posting this image, today, under yesterday’s date. Let’s see if I can get around to making a post happen today, now.
-Clayton, a busy boy.
2024 09 23
Last night, we watched Ren Faire, the three-part mini series on HBO, and I was kind of blown away by the project. Going in, I’d assumed it was a documentary and my brain was primed for a good doc-viewing experience. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that I categorize it in a new still-developing genre of filmmaking that blurs reality with narrative forms of storytelling, and I’m not yet fully sure what to think of it. Much like news has largely become a facts-optional landscape of entertainment-minded-viewer-pleasing content, the genre of documentary filmmaking is going through a similar transformation, with modern tools of moviemaking allowing for some clever new approaches. Stylistically speaking, Ren Faire was one of the best films I’ve seen in recent memory (also, I’m such a sucker for the anamorphic lens work they used).
Today, I came across this quote from Stanley Kubrick:
“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”
While I’m not sure the quote ties in with my thoughts on Ren Faire, I will add that oftentimes I find movies pay too much attention to style and not enough attention to story. While they did some amazing work on the project, especially with editing, audio, and cinematography, you started to get the sense that this crew could make damn near any group of people interesting, so what’s the point of spending so much time learning about this specific group?
All that said, if you are into film at all, give Ren Faire a watch. And now I’m off to try and find a reasonably-priced anamorphic lens.
-Clayton
Preparing for dinner at the Northwoods lake cabin. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Last night, we watched Ren Faire, the three-part mini series on HBO, and I was kind of blown away by the project. Going in, I’d assumed it was a documentary and my brain was primed for a good doc-viewing experience. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that I categorize it in a new still-developing genre of filmmaking that blurs reality with narrative forms of storytelling, and I’m not yet fully sure what to think of it. Much like news has largely become a facts-optional landscape of entertainment-minded-viewer-pleasing content, the genre of documentary filmmaking is going through a similar transformation, with modern tools of moviemaking allowing for some clever new approaches. Stylistically speaking, Ren Faire was one of the best films I’ve seen in recent memory (also, I’m such a sucker for the anamorphic lens work they used).
Today, I came across this quote from Stanley Kubrick:
“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”
While I’m not sure the quote ties in with my thoughts on Ren Faire, I will add that oftentimes I find movies pay too much attention to style and not enough attention to story. While they did some amazing work on the project, especially with editing, audio, and cinematography, you started to get the sense that this crew could make damn near any group of people interesting, so what’s the point of spending so much time learning about this specific group? It started skewing into style over substance territory.
All that said, if you are into film at all, give Ren Faire a watch. And now I’m off to try and find a reasonably-priced anamorphic lens.
-Clayton
2024 09 22
Writing is hard. I woke up this morning with a great story playing out in my head. Often, I’ll awake in the middle of the night, in the midst of a dream which seems like an amazing story, only to wake up hours later and reassess the dream in the light of day as not very interesting after all. That said, today’s story was formed in my waking moments, while fully conscious of what I was crafting. Excitedly, I rushed downstairs to my laptop and began to jot down my thoughts on the screen before immediately hitting a wall and losing all momentum. The sentences sounded fantastic in my head but proved impossible to get onto paper. Likely, my conscious brain began to over-think and harshly judge the words once they existed in the actual world, where other people might end up reading them.
All that said, I’m considering this a step in the right direction. Writing is not easy, art is not easy. I know this, but I’m optimistic that continued effort to translate these thoughts into real-life words will eventual pay off, much as my decades-long efforts into photography have given me a more comfortable approach to turning my ideas into photos.
-Clayton
Allison at the cabin in the Northwoods. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Writing is hard. I woke up this morning with a great story playing out in my head. Often, I’ll awake in the middle of the night, in the midst of a dream which seems like an amazing story, only to reassess the dream in the light of day as not very interesting after all. That said, today’s story was formed in my waking moments, while fully conscious of what I was crafting. Excitedly, I then rushed downstairs to my laptop and began to jot down my thoughts on the screen before immediately hitting a wall and losing all momentum. The sentences sounded fantastic in my head but proved impossible to get onto paper. Likely, my conscious brain began to over-think and harshly judge the words once they existed in the actual world, where other people might end up reading them.
All that said, I’m considering this a step in the right direction. Writing is not easy, art is not easy. I know this, but I’m optimistic that continued effort to translate these thoughts into real-life words will eventual pay off, much as my decades-long efforts into photography have given me a more comfortable approach to turning my ideas into photos.
-Clayton
2024 08 29
Ten minutes prior to deadline. Although, technically, I’ve missed the deadline since it’s passed midnight in my current location on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll give myself a pass since it’s not quite tomorrow yet in Chicago. But I’m walking on thin ice around here. This image, made in upstate Wisconsin, reminded me of my week here on the waters of coastal Maryland. I always love making images of water and waves, especially when beautiful lighting is involved. It’s cheap, sure, but look how mesmerizing this is!
See you tomorrow (today).
-Clayton
Lake waves. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Ten minutes prior to deadline. Although, technically, I’ve missed the deadline since it’s passed midnight in my current location on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll give myself a pass since it’s not quite tomorrow yet in Chicago. But I’m walking on thin ice around here. This image, made in upstate Wisconsin, reminded me of my week here on the waters of coastal Maryland. I always love making images of water and waves, especially when beautiful lighting is involved. It’s cheap, sure, but look how mesmerizing this is!
See you tomorrow (today).
-Clayton