2025 12 16

Lady Protestor. No Kings rally. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2025 © Clayton Hauck

This was a therapeutic day. By design, I don’t get into politics much on this here blog (mostly because the only ones reading lately are Chinese bots), so I don’t want to speak more about all of the insanity going on right now. Instead, this image sparked an internal debate and dialogue about my own current photography practices. Photojournalistic approach vs artistic approach. This is a much more complicated and complex scenario that I won’t attempt to solve in today’s post. Instead, I aim to begin a larger conversation that I will attempt to explore in the coming days and weeks.

As I expand my own artistic photography practice through zines and eventually a book, the question I ask myself is how best to approach these projects. Most of my previous experience in photography has been either through photojournalism or commercial projects which tend to live in the real world (sometimes with much retouching, of course). Many of the photobooks I am drawn to lately have taken a different approach to photography and instead partake in world building and vibe setting, and this is a skill I still need to work on, yet one I’m drawn to because I’ve spend my entire life doing it in my own head.

More another day. Stay safe out there, Chicago, ICE is back in town.

-Clayton