2025 10 18
Night scene. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Having lived in the same general area for twenty-some years now, it’s always a memorable moment when I stumble down a street that I’d never previously been down. This was one of those streets and I loved the vibes of this house.
The other day, I had the thought that it would be nice to make this blog a bit more robust, immediate, and interactive. I could post and write about things as they happen in my life and make the whole thing a bit more purposeful, instead of the random spur-of-the-moment grab bag it has been lately. But considering I’m days behind on posting and severely behind on other life tasks, I’m not sure how realistic of an idea this is. All that said, I think a bit part of why I’m so behind on various parts of my life lately is in fact because they are lacking a defined purpose. Posting a photo a day just because is nice in theory, but what’s the deeper meaning behind doing so? Is is just because I have folders full of images and I need to put them somewhere? That’s nice, but it’s not keeping the creative juices flowing as much as it had been and perhaps it is time to find a new angle around here.
-Clayton
2025 10 14
Allison gets into a burger. Chicago, Illinois. November, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 10 10
The Next Picture Show. Dixon, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
This year, I had an idea for a photo project I really wanted to attempt. Sadly, if never came together mostly due to me not having any time to dedicate to it.
There’s always next year, so they say.
-Clayton
2025 10 08
Chair. Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Have a seat, why don’t I? I’m days behind on updating this here blog, and it’s mostly because I haven’t had a moment of time to myself this week.
-Clayton
2025 10 05
Heading south? Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
It’s finally time for fall, maybe?
-Clayton
2025 10 03
Art For Sale! Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
As someone who has avoiding marketing at all costs for the entirety of his commercial photography career, I can tell you with ease that I hate it. The only way I’ve done it in the past is by somehow tricking myself into enjoying it (doing blogs, doing affordable headshots, opening a studio, yada yada). These are not really solutions but, in practice, new jobs that don’t efficiently help with marketing my core offerings. I know all this, yet persist. I still have a long way to go, but at least I’m finally acknowledging the problem and starting to make an effort.
This year, my two biggest areas of focus, broadly speaking, have been:
1) Changing my tendency to want to do everything alone. I need people if I’m ever going to succeed at scale (scale being relative here; I’m not looking to sell a startup or IPO).
2) Communication. Nobody will ever know the cool things I’m doing if I don’t tell or show them (duh!?)
This video below popped into my feed and was a really thoughtful and clear summary of what’s been on my mind a lot lately (also, his vibe is like the opposite of most influencer types, which is incredibly refreshing in itself). If you’re like me and loathe selling yourself as an artist, as a business, as a human, I’d give it a watch and maybe you can find some worthwhile tidbits as I did myself.
-Clayton
2025 10 02
Haley & Buddy. Dixon, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Here’s a recent favorite snap. Definitely need to get back into the habit of sharing images of people and a bit less images of trash on the sidewalk and busted cars. We’ll get there. I can never fully quit the busted cars, though. Excited to get back out to the farm maybe this weekend! I’ve got tons more images from there, as well…
-Clayton
2025 09 30
Mysterious house. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I’m not entirely sure why, but most times I pass this house I feel an urge to make a photo of it.
-Clayton
2025 09 27
Map of the outlying area of Dixon, Illinois. © Clayton Hauck
I love maps. Previously, I mentioned my recent obsession with Open Front, a free online game in the style of the civ series. This game continues to fill gaps in my daily productivity. Now, a new game is about the drop which has me very concerned: Subway Builder. While I haven’t yet played it, I can already tell I will be spending many brain hours building train networks around the world. Good luck future productivity.
-Clayton
2025 09 26
Solo cloud. Somewhere west of Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
In designing my new zine project, I wanted the size to be Goldilocks; not too large but also not too small. I like the idea of letting the images shine on their own, and printing too small can remove some of the magic, in my opinion. That said, going bigger gets expensive and becomes a hassle to ship and handle. I settled on 8” x 10” vertical layout, despite the fact that I would’ve preferred a less wide (ie: an even smaller) form. The two factors that led me to compromise, in a sense, were: a) I much prefer horizontal images and get triggered by how much I’m almost forced to shoot vertical these days because of the cell phone. The winder aspect ratio allows for more room for horizontal images; and b) the added room on the page allows for some creativity in layout design. While the aim is to keep things relatively simple, I love the fact that zines are lower stakes productions and you can have a bit more fun with them. My goal is to partner with designers on future issues and explore more possibilities.
This image will likely get printed in a future zine. Be on the lookout for it in the year 2027. Seriously though, the “visual journal” zines I will be producing will be running a few years behind when I actually made the images. They gotta cook, slow!
You can pre-order my first zine drop and snag a free (8x10) print in the precess here.
-Clayton
2025 09 24
Another day, another Happy Barn. Kingdom, Illinois. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Prevously, see: 2025 06 16
-Clayton
2025 09 23
Bare tree in summer. Franklin Grove, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 09 13
Neon art. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
I have a friend who is having weird thoughts. I’m beginning to get concerned. He wants to be an artist, he says. He’s doing all sorts of things that don’t make any logical sense. He wiped his social media clear of all normal photos. No selfies, no family, no friends. People are calling him, asking him what’s the meaning of all this. To this, he calmly explains himself, but this only gets the people even more riled up and angry. I think a wellness check is in order. Maybe he’s got a couple screws loose. I think I need to distance myself from him; to claim I never met the fella.
-Clayton
