2025 09 14
Allison. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Today is the one-year anniversary of our wedding. Off to celebrate, a bit!
-Clayton
2025 09 13
Neon art. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
I have a friend who is having weird thoughts. Iām beginning to get concerned. He wants to be an artist, he says. Heās doing all sorts of things that donāt 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 whatās 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 heās got a couple screws loose. I think I need to distance myself from him; to claim I never met the fella.
-Clayton
2025 09 11
Bay Theater. Ashland, Wisconsin. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Seeking Stephen Shore. Didnāt find him, but got the book.
-Clayton
2025 09 08
Dave sports Donāt Fret. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 09 07
The road to the Maryland coast. August, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Around this time last year I was out east making photos fro Ocean City, Maryland tourism. Itās been a rather slow year, but considering I havenāt even gotten around to posting the images I made over a year ago now, it seems Iām doing a great job of keeping myself occupied (and likely focusing on the wrong things).
I am definitely not a beach person, but I do love the vibes on the Atlantic coast. The grittier the better. Ocean City was an enjoyable place, and not just because they were paying me to be there.
-Clayton
2025 09 06
Anderson Japanese Gardens. Rockford, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 09 05
Another Busted Car. May, 2025. Chicago, Illinois. Ā© Clayton Hauck
They should move Labor Day to September 5th. Nine to Five. Get it?
-Clayton
2025 09 03
Playing music alone in the park. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
As I learn to navigate being an artist, I think itās vital to manage your voice. What are you saying, both literally and visually through your work. To be candid, this is not something Iām good at. Iām not even sure itās something I want to be good at. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle that has been keeping me relegated to an artistic tradesperson.
I was reminded this week that the things you say and do are interpreted differently by every single person digesting them. Perhaps itās an ego thing, but I often forget this and speak as though weāre all on the same page. Weāre all in on the same knowledge and have the same perspectives, when clearly the exact opposite is true.
I think one of the amazing things about art is that is unifies and bridges gaps between everyoneās unique perspectives. This is not a profound statement by any means, and perhaps I shouldāve been writing this a few decades ago as a student, but I mean it merely as a reminder to myself. Focus more on what I want to say through my work, and less on posting stuff just because: itās pretty; Iām supposed to; to feed the algorithm; to remind people I exist.
We all can play music alone in the park, but those of us playing with purpose will find the audience they are seeking.
-Clayton
2025 09 02
RIP Donāt Fret. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Have I mentioned I run a photobook shop now? www.realmbooks.co
Iām busy adding a dozen or more new titles to the website over the next few days. Check it out, and buy a book maybe?! All the money we make on books, for the foreseeable future, goes to purchasing more books. Itās just smart business. See you on Shark Tank!
-Clayton
2025 09 01
Industry. Lemont, Illinois. June, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Today was one of those days I got my ass handed to me. Rejection after rejection. Every single job I was bidding on myself and every hold on the studio had on the calendar evaporated into thin air as the world reminded me I am mortal and shit is hard. Then, as icing on the shit sandwich, the bank alerted me that our brand new Realm bookshop credit card had been stolen from my mailbox (along with a few new shirts I was excited to wear) and used at Target to try and purchase $2,000 worth of stuff.
With all this crap happening, my only response can be to take a deep breath or two and refocus my energies back onto myself and the work Iām excited to make. Iām at the studio working on a personal zine and, as I type this, my watch has alerted me that Marine Layer has refunded me for my stolen clothing. Deep breath. Deep breath.
One good thing that happened was this video (below) popped into my feed. Itās a glorious video, insanely well made, and a nice reminder on this difficult day about how dedication to a craft tends to pay off in the long run.
-Clayton
2025 08 31
A tree disappears into the distance. Bloomington, Indiana. November, 2022. Ā© Clayton Hauck
In āScrewtape Proposes a Toast,ā C.S. Lewis goes all-in on a vision of democratic decline. His writing from seventy-or-so years ago hit me like a slap to the face while our democracy appears to be failing all around us. The read is worth you time (as is his book I found it in: The Screwtape Letters), but I only bring it up to lay out the scene for todayās short story.
Perhaps it was my mood affecting me; on a rare day off, while doing house chores, dripping in sweat, I opened my email to see a message from a producer asking me to get him an image pull by the end of the day. Everything is always needed immediately in my business. What would normally be a nice thing to see (someone potentially interested in you working on a project), on this day struck me as being so frustrating that I reconsidered my entire career. Clearly, this specific incident, while slightly annoying in its timing (Iād really needed this day to catch up on house chores Iād been neglecting!), was more so a reminder of bigger concerns and frustrations with the industry (wonāt get into all that now). Regardless of why I was frustrated, it was another detail that put me over the edge this specific day: I didnāt like the specific client I would be making the work for.
While I was having my existential crisis, I reached out to a number of trusted friends to get their opinion on my dilemma. The client, you see, was one that hasnāt had much good PR recently. Quite the opposite, in fact. I figured the trusted council I received would at least somewhat mirror my reluctance to drop everything to help out this particular corporation, however, without fail everyone told me, simply: take the money! In my head, it was a lose-lose situation. The universe was testing me and I didnāt even fully understand the potential consequences, I just knew it was somehow a fork-in-the-road moment.
I donāt think Iām unique in feeling like not much is working these days. Itās not just my job and my industry, itās most peoplesā. This, perhaps, was my biggest takeaway from the incident, which is now well behind me (I didnāt get the job, but I did try to! I could really use the money, of course). My thinking was that friends would see my frustrations and side with me, but I was instead met with the exact opposite reaction ā shit is hard right now and you need to take a win when you can get it.
In trying to end this thought on a positive note, I pondered a way to tie it back towards The Screwtape Letters. But since this incident occurred, screwworm has entered the United States, so perhaps it is more appropriate to end it in dismay. Stay sane out there.
-Clayton
2025 08 30
Wild house. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. August, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Summer is nearly over and we havenāt made it up to Milwaukee once yet! Iām bummed about this. We also never made it to Cedar Point, or Six Flags, or Pittsburgh, or Bob Chinās Crab House. Thereās always next year, I guess. Until thereās not.
-Clayton
2025 08 28
Haley at Consignment Lounge, Chicago, Illinois. June 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Yes, behind on posting again. Weāve been out visiting family over the weekend. Specifically, at my sisterās new spot in rural Illinois. Lots of fun and lots of photos, as well. Iām so behind on editing. Aiming to get a bunch of that done this coming week, which will hopefully then lead to more regularly-scheduled posting around here.
-Clayton
2025 08 27
Catalpa tree and sunset storm clouds. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
-Clayton