2025 08 09
Stop (the negativity)! Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Nobody visited This Here Blog yesterday. While it’s always sad when people don’t resonate with the things you put your time into, instead of being sad and negative about it, let’s turn the tables and write some positive things (about photography) that are happening right now!
Nobody visited yesterday but I also didn’t post anything yesterday because I was busy working on a big project. The job is, realistically, larger than most professional photographers will book in their entire career. Okay, now we’re just bragging…
Nobody visited yesterday but usually a few people do, and that’s pretty cool! Anyone taking the time to look at what you are up to is amazing. I think social media has largely skewed our views towards engagement. If we are not putting up numbers in the thousands or millions, we are somehow failing. Yet if fifteen people stopped us on the street one day to say hello, we’d be shocked and amazed.
This blog, even on days I fail, has been teaching me lessons about myself and how I manage and edit my images. I still have a long way to go, but I’m figuring out new systems to help me better organize my insane amounts of photos.
Sure it’s been a challenge and perhaps won’t be around forever, but the fact that I currently have an amazing studio that people really enjoy being in makes me happy.
I’m having more fun making images now than quite possibly at any other time in my career (not a negative thought, per se, but: my concern is that there is a correlation in this observation in that I am also the slowest I’ve ever been in my career from a paid assignments perspective. Maybe we’ll dig more into this another day).
I’m exploring new things within the world of photography that I am really enjoying, namely: printing and learning all about the world of photobooks and publishing.
My list of ideas on projects I could be working on is growing so large it’s overwhelming (maybe this isn’t good??). I guess it makes me feel good to continually have the inspiration to do things, despite the reality that time is always the limiting factor.
Anytime I’m on Instagram, I see many people using my images as their profile photo. As I get more into offering portrait shoots, this is a nice little thing that helps keep me motivated.
Not photo related but: I’ve cut out most news and politics from my life and have put much more time into reading books and watching movies, which very much helps my creativity.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Clayton
