2024 05 15
Just a quick update today as Iām still buried in work with no time for blogginā
Iām offering my Keep it 100 $100 portrait sessions at the studio this week. If youāre in town and need some new photos of yourself, book a session and come see me!
-Clayton
Charlie poses during one of my Keep it 100 sessions at the studio. December, 2023. Chicago, Illinois. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Just a quick update today as Iām still buried in work with no time for blogginā
Iām offering my Keep it 100 $100 portrait sessions at the studio this week. If youāre in town and need some new photos of yourself, book a session and come see me!
-Clayton
2024 05 07
Following my own advice from yesterdayās entry, I checked out another from Paulie Bās amazing Walkie Talkie series, this time featuring another photographer I was not previously familiar with by the name of Sara Messinger. I think the kids are alright! Beyond being introduced to another talented name, I loved the contrasting styles, approaches, and philosophies between Sara and Trevor, who was the previous subject of yesterdayās post. Throughout the entire forty-minute video, Iām not sure Sara made a single image, while Trevor finished like a dozen rolls and got into a few heated moments with strangers-who-became-subjects.
Partly why I loved this video with Sara is because she constantly reminded me of my own partner Allison, whereas Iām probably a bit more like Trevor. We all see the world a bit different and approach photography in our own ways. Itās also rather fascinating to contemplate how street photography has changed since I was their age wandering the streets with a camera. People these days are far more sensitive and aware about what might happen when a stranger makes a photo of them on the street without their consent.
Thatās a deeper debate for another day, but letās leave it there for now. Compete less; put yourself out there more; open yourself up to connect with your subjects as thatās how the magical moments are made. Thanks for your positive energy, Sara.
-Clayton
Dinah in front of the camera for my Keep it 100 portrait session. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2023. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Following my own advice from yesterdayās entry, I checked out another from Paulie Bās amazing Walkie Talkie series, this time featuring another photographer I was not previously familiar with by the name of Sara Messinger. I think the kids are alright! Beyond being introduced to another talented name, I loved the contrasting styles, approaches, and philosophies between Sara and Trevor, who was the previous subject of yesterdayās post. Throughout the entire forty-minute video, Iām not sure Sara made a single image, while Trevor finished like a dozen rolls and got into a few heated moments with strangers-who-became-subjects.
Partly why I loved this video with Sara is because she constantly reminded me of my own partner Allison, whereas Iām probably a bit more like Trevor. We all see the world a bit different and approach photography in our own ways. Itās also rather fascinating to contemplate how street photography has changed since I was their age wandering the streets with a camera. People these days are far more sensitive and aware about what might happen when a stranger makes a photo of them on the street without their consent.
Thatās a deeper debate for another day, but letās leave it there for now. Compete less; put yourself out there more; open yourself up to connect deeply with your subjects, as thatās how the magical moments are made. Thanks for your positive energy, Sara.
-Clayton
2024 04 10
Today is the birthday of my favorite person, my partner, my soon-to-be wife, Allison! it is your birthday. Hope itās a good one!
Allison Ziemba in our backyard. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Today is the birthday of my favorite person, my partner, my soon-to-be wife, Allison! it is your birthday. Hope itās a good one!
Love you so much!
-Clayton
2024 04 09
After roughly twenty years in the business, itās rare I get to photograph a magazine cover (partly because magazines donāt really exist anymore) so it was an honor when my semi-regular client Chicago allowed me to do a cover shoot. My photography style tends to be a bit more gritty, dark, and authentic (agency buzz word alert!ā¦are you listening, SEO?), which doesnāt always fit well in the glossy world of heavily-retouched magazine rack images. Or at least thatās what I tell myself.
This image was made as part of a Best New Restaurants feature, which was a blast to be a part of and resulted in some great images.
While Iām still sort of feeling out what this particular website even is, Iām shying away from making it another commercial photography portfolio, so even sharing editorial images like this one doesnāt feel completely right. But weāll see!
Chef Christian Hunter of Atelier photographed for Chicago Magazine (and used as the cover image!). Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
After roughly twenty years in the business, itās rare I get to photograph a magazine cover (partly because magazines donāt really exist anymore) so it was an honor when my semi-regular client Chicago allowed me to do a cover shoot. My photography style tends to be a bit more gritty, dark, and authentic (agency buzz word alert!ā¦are you listening, SEO?), which doesnāt always fit well in the glossy world of heavily-retouched magazine rack images. Or at least thatās what I tell myself.
This image was made as part of a Best New Restaurants feature, which was a blast to be a part of and resulted in some great images.
While Iām still sort of feeling out what this particular website even is, Iām shying away from making it another commercial photography portfolio, so even sharing editorial images like this one doesnāt feel completely right. But weāll see!
On the topic of myself, one other idea I had was to do a series on Instagram reels going into a bit more detail on how I made specific images. Tips, tricks, and observations. That sort of thing. Is this something people want or am I merely stroking my ego and hunting for social engagement? I donāt know! Sorting out how to exist within the current digital media landscape is endlessly confusing and largely frustrating. I guess at the end of the day you should just do things that feel right to you and not like a blatant grab for internet fame.
What do you think? Is anyone reading this? Blogging is the future so surely there will soon be tens of dozens of people interested in leaving their opinions in the comment section below.
-Clayton
2024 03 23
Imagine: youāre a dopey teenager in a band and luck into making an album that becomes a global phenomenon. Then, five decades later, youāre still a musician but nobody wants to hear anything you have to say if itās not a song off that one album that went global when you were sixteen years old and didnāt know shit about nothinā. Itās like being caught in a moment of time with no escape. Sure, you can do your best to ignore the chanting from the masses to āplay something we know!ā as Bob Dylan constantly has to do, but even someone as monumental as Bob Dylan canāt escape the chanting and is forced to hear it for the rest of his life.
Anyway. 311 did a Tiny Desk concert which got me thinking about time, music, art, and how sometimes when you make something that becomes big, it evolves and is no longer really yours, regardless of what US copyright law may have to say about it.
āStay positive! Love your life!ā -311, avid readers of Pointing at Stuff dot com.
-Clayton
Stylish woman hands me my new iPhone before I ask if I can make a photo of her. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2023. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Imagine: youāre a dopey teenager in a band and luck into making an album that becomes a global phenomenon. Then, five decades later, youāre still a musician but nobody wants to hear anything you have to say if itās not a song off that one album that went global when you were sixteen years old and didnāt know shit about nothinā (also: thatās possibly how you were able to make music everyone wanted to hear but more on this idea another day). Itās like being caught in a moment of time with no escape. Sure, you can do your best to ignore the chanting from the masses to āplay something we know!ā as Bob Dylan constantly has to do, but even someone as monumental as Bob Dylan canāt escape the chanting and is forced to hear it for the rest of his life.
Anyway. 311 did a Tiny Desk concert which got me thinking about time, music, art, and how sometimes when you make something that becomes big, it evolves and is no longer really yours, regardless of what US copyright law may have to say about it.
āStay positive! Love your life!ā -311, avid readers of Pointing at Stuff dot com.
-Clayton
2024 03 18
Itās Monday. Back to workā¦
Hereās a little self promotion. I do a really fun portrait setup in my studio where I offer $100 portrait sessions in which participants get 100 unique photos of themselves. No AI, no fancy Photoshop tricks, just a unique approach to good old fashioned portrait photography.
ā”ļø You can check out more about the process, or book a session next time Iām offering it, here on the studio page.
-Clayton
Filmmaker & educator Anu Rana in my See You Soon studio as a subject in my Keep it 100 portrait setup. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās Monday. Back to workā¦
Hereās a little self promotion. I do a really fun portrait setup in my studio where I offer $100 portrait sessions in which participants get 100 unique photos of themselves. No AI, no fancy Photoshop tricks, just a unique approach to good old fashioned portrait photography.
-Clayton
2024 03 02
AI sources its āinspirationā from existing imagery. They grab millions, if not billions, of images and feed them into a massive neural computer network. Many, if not most, of the images are made by artists with no interest in training a computer model. Some of the images are illegal. Child pornography that got sucked into the system in the corporate drive to automate systems to train other systems on the biggest pool of imagery possible.
What interests me is what happens in 5-10 years when (if?) most content is AI generated. It will become a Digital Doom Loop of artificial reality. AI systems training themselves on artificial material made by other AI systems ad infinitum. Language will shift based on what the computers interpret to be language. If we canāt understand the computers, weāll lose our grip on them, so weāll be forced to bend to their automated will.
Anyway, have a nice weekend.
-Clayton
An outtake from my āKeep it 100ā portrait sessions. Chicago, Illinois. January, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
AI sources its āinspirationā from existing imagery. They grab millions, if not billions, of images and feed them into a massive neural computer network. Many, if not most, of the images are made by artists with no interest in training a computer model. Some of the images are illegal. Child pornography that got sucked into the system in the corporate drive to automate systems to train other systems on the biggest pool of imagery possible.
What interests me is what happens in 5-10 years when (if?) most content is AI generated. It will become a Digital Doom Loop of artificial reality. AI systems training themselves on artificial material made by other AI systems ad infinitum. Language will shift based on what the computers interpret to be language. If we canāt understand the computers, weāll lose our grip on them, so weāll be forced to bend to their automated will.
Anyway, have a nice weekend.
-Clayton
2024 01 21
*Warning: Political Content*
While I have no idea how this upcoming political election will play out, other than it being an unbearable experience for most of us, I wanted to air some thoughts on the topic.
Preface: Local politics have vastly more impact to most of us and are surprisingly easy to get involved in and make a difference. Of course, they are also wildly boring and therefor almost universally ignored. On that note, letās chat about the Big Ticket Item, the president of the united states!
One angle that I think gets mostly forgotten or overlooked in US political discourse is: things change. Both the Democratic and Republican parties were vastly different not that long ago as they are made up of varying coalition of groups, interests, rich people, corporations, etc. My skrewball vision over the last few years is that weād soon see the rise of a third viable party in this country ā which would be a progressive/socialist party fueled by the anger of young, disenfranchised, and āleft behindā voters ā while the traditional conservative strong-government stability-rules types would side with an increasingly-conservative Democratic party (mostly because they still have the old power structures firmly in place) and the MAGA burn-the-system folks would complete their takeover of the Republican party.
While I have no love for Trump or the party he has commandeered, one thing I give Republicans credit for is having a bit of flexibility. Most of us had no confidence that Trump would actually win the nomination and become president. Even after he demolished the competition, debate after debate, we thought surely there would be something to stop this mess from happening. The same thing was playing out on the other side and thatās exactly what did happen! The Dems, terrified of losing their grip on the levers of power to an unknown, Independent entity named Bernie, used all their sway to make sure he didnāt take control away from them like Obama had done eight years prior. These two decisions: the GOP deciding to listen to voters and the Dems doing their best to ignore them, is likely what gave Trump the victory. If it does not bend, it will break.
So what happens next? Apparently the Supreme Court (which Trump largely installed) will tell us in the coming weeks after they decide whether states get to decide who goes on the ballot. You know, typical democracy will-of-the-voters stuff!
The political landscape of this country has shifted before and it is currently shifting again. How it ends nobody yet knows, but the parties that largely control our political destiny will not be the same as they are now forever.
Iām linking below a recent video from my favorite geopolitics writer Peter Zeihan which I think does a nice job summing up not how things have changed, might play out, and surely will get even weirder.
Vote!
-Clayton
Portrait of a participant at a Beer & Cameras event I hosted at my See You Soon studio. Novermber 12, 2023. Ā© Clayton Hauck
*Warning: Political Content*
While I have no idea how this upcoming political election will play out, other than it being an unbearable experience for most of us, I wanted to air some thoughts on the topic.
Preface: Local politics have vastly more impact to most of us and are surprisingly easy to get involved in and make a difference. Of course, they are also wildly boring and therefor almost universally ignored. On that note, letās chat about the Big Ticket Item, the president of the United States!
One angle that I think gets mostly forgotten or overlooked in US political discourse is: things change. Both the Democratic and Republican parties were vastly different not that long ago as they are made up of varying coalition of groups, interests, rich people, corporations, etc. My skrewball vision over the last few years is that weād soon see the rise of a third viable party in this country ā which would be a progressive/socialist party fueled by the anger of young, disenfranchised, and āleft behindā voters ā while the traditional conservative strong-government stability-rules types would side with an increasingly-conservative Democratic party (mostly because they still have the old power structures firmly in place) and the MAGA burn-the-system folks would complete their takeover of the Republican party.
While I have no love for Trump or the party he has commandeered, one thing I give Republicans credit for is having a bit of flexibility. Most of us had no confidence that Trump would actually win the nomination and become president. Even after he demolished the competition, debate after debate, we thought surely there would be something to stop this mess from happening. The same thing was playing out on the other side and thatās exactly what did happen! The Dems, terrified of losing their grip on the levers of power to an unknown, Independent entity named Bernie, used all their sway to make sure he didnāt take control away from them like Obama had done eight years prior. These two decisions: the GOP deciding to listen to voters and the Dems doing their best to ignore them, is likely what gave Trump the victory. If it does not bend, it will break.
So what happens next? Apparently the Supreme Court (which Trump largely installed) will tell us in the coming weeks after they decide whether states get to decide who goes on the ballot. You know, typical democracy will-of-the-voters stuff!
The political landscape of this country has shifted before and it is currently shifting again. How it ends nobody yet knows, but the parties that largely control our political destiny will not be the same as they are now forever.
Iām linking below a recent video from my favorite geopolitics writer Peter Zeihan which I think does a nice job (although I disagree with him that Trump canāt win) summing up how things have changed, might play out, and surely will get even weirder.
Vote!
-Clayton
2024 01 07
This is Dinah. She owns Spinning J and is awesome. I had a wild idea a few months back that would require me to find new partners and/or investor money (have a loose $100k youāre looking to do something with? Hit me up!) so I reached out to her and some other people to see if they may want to get involved. The idea is really cool and I hope it happens, however, itās a bit of a long shot at this point because I donāt think the space is still available. If it does happen, surely youāll be hearing a lot more about it soon.
-Clayton
Dinah. December, 2023. Ā©Clayton Hauck
This is Dinah. She owns Spinning J and is awesome. I had a wild idea a few months back that would require me to find new partners and/or investor money (have a loose $100k youāre looking to do something with? Hit me up!) so I reached out to her and some other people to see if they may want to get involved. The idea is really cool and I hope it happens, however, itās a bit of a long shot at this point because I donāt think the space is still available. If it does happen, surely youāll be hearing a lot more about it soon.
-Clayton