2025 09 02
RIP Don’t Fret. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Have I mentioned I run a photobook shop now? www.realmbooks.co
I’m 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. It’s just smart business. See you on Shark Tank!
-Clayton
2025 08 18
Fancy frog artwork of Ellie Pritts. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
As I continue to be couch-ridden as my body rids itself of this year’s Covid variety, my intake of random youtube videos remains steady. This video (below) popped into my feed likely due to the camera tech review, which I could care less about, but I’m glad it did! Yes, the technology is remarkable. I’ve been itching to play with a probe lens for years now (second in excitement only to my urge to shoot anamorphic lenses). While these things get me excited, they are also telling (to me). The simple fact that I have not made the effort to make it happen, to shoot some videos with probes and squished video, tells me that my level of passion isn’t quite there (compared to still photography). This is not to say things may change, but after some recent efforts to get back into shooting motion again, it’s the editing step that is a roadblock for me. My brain and my body resisting at all costs because it knows. It has been there before. Trapped in a room all hours of the day, as days stretch into weeks and time passes without your participation in it.
The other takeaway was less personal and more from a broad industry-perspective. The tools available now to even the casual shooter are remarkable. This trend will only continue, further eroding the previously-huge advantage high-end photo and video makers once had. It used to be wildly difficult and even more expensive to produce the level of quality casual youtube kids are now dropping weekly. With that, of course, comes the further reduction in rates being paid to execute this work for the people who want it made (which is also increasingly less as ad spend dollars move more and more to social media native content).
All that said, check out the video they put together with this cool tech! It’s really impressive, even with the faux-Attenborough VO (which also enforces my sentiments, I think).
-Clayton
2025 06 01
Don’t Fret art. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
While Don’t Fret is no longer with us, he will live on, through his art and through his spirit, for some time.
We were in early production on a documentary about his life. While this project has been derailed, it will eventually be turned into something worthwhile. More on this another day. More on all of this, in fact, another day, as I surely have quite a lot more thoughts to share once I both find the time to share them and fully process the realities.
Until then, don’t fret.
-Clayton
PS- thank you to all who attended and helped plan the lovely memorial service
2025 04 18
Note from a vaguely anonymous artist. Dont Fret. Home Away From Home, Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
We lost a real one today. More thoughts another day, as I have yet to fully process the stark reality.
Today, we fret.
-Clayton
2025 01 30
I EXIST!
I used to joke that street tags could all be translated to “I exist!”
These days, we’re all steeet tagging digitally through the social apps we used, being forced to constantly remind the world we exist in a desperate plea to please the almighty algorithm and gain a sliver on traction in the attention economy we live in. It’s exhausting.
I walk this stretch often and watched the artist spend days painting this mural. Then the tags go up in an instance, crowding out any detail and nuance. Tagging is very much an art form fit for our time. Do we really exist if nobody sees your post on socials or name sprayed on a side street wall?
-Clayton
Wall filled with -a-r-t- tags. Chicago, Illinois. November, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I EXIST!
I used to joke that street tags could all be translated to “I exist!”
These days, we’re all street tagging digitally through the social apps we use, being forced to constantly remind the world we exist in a desperate plea to please the almighty algorithm and gain a sliver on traction in the attention economy we live in. It’s exhausting.
I walk this stretch often and watched the artist spend days painting this mural. Then the tags go up in an instance, crowding out any detail and nuance. Tagging is very much an art form fit for our time. Do we really exist if nobody sees our post on social or name sprayed on a side street wall? Maybe not, after all.
Like, comment, subscribe, and come back tomorrow for more gem takes like this.
-Clayton
2025 01 27
I’ve been printing a ton lately! Above are sixteen of my own images that I am offering for sale, reasonably-priced, to anyone looking to add a little joy to their walls. You can check out the whole series and place an order if so inclined here! These prints were all made by myself, using high quality paper and archival ink, in my secret print shop at the studio, for a show that just wrapped up in the lobby of my studio’s building (the Kimball Arts Center). While I have been printing a lot, I haven’t been selling nearly as much. It’s a goal this year to get better about selling (or giving away!) what I print before continuing to stockpile what I’ve already made. Everything is a process. One step at a time.
I’m also currently working on a large print order (not my images) which paid enough for me to buy a bunch of new paper that I plan to use making zines and more postcards. None of this is really making me money (yet?), but it’s been a fun new hobby and I can see myself doing lots more printing in the coming years, perhaps even making it more of a focus of my photography practice in one way or another (no shortage of ideas!).
So yeah, if you’re a local photographer looking to print some of your work, reach out! Or, check out the website I put together to sell my own prints and pass me your email to be entered to win a free future print drop. I’d love to keep releasing new images but I need to discontinue or sell out a few of the previous releases first!
-Clayton
Sixteen of my limited edition prints. See You Soon. Chicago, Illinois. November, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I’ve been printing a ton lately! Above are sixteen of my own images that I am offering for sale, reasonably-priced, to anyone looking to add a little joy to their walls. You can check out the whole series and place an order if so inclined here! These prints were all made by myself, using high quality paper and archival ink, in my secret print shop at the studio, for a show that just wrapped up in the lobby of my studio’s building (the Kimball Arts Center). While I have been printing a lot, I haven’t been selling nearly as much. It’s a goal this year to get better about selling (or giving away!) what I print before continuing to stockpile what I’ve already made. Everything is a process. One step at a time.
I’m also currently working on a large print order (not my images) which paid enough for me to buy a bunch of new paper that I plan to use making zines and more postcards. None of this is really making me money (yet?), but it’s been a fun new hobby and I can see myself doing lots more printing in the coming years, perhaps even making it more of a focus of my photography practice in one way or another (no shortage of ideas!).
So yeah, if you’re a local photographer looking to print some of your work, reach out! Or, check out the website I put together to sell my own prints and pass me your email to be entered to win a free future print drop. I’d love to keep releasing new images but I need to discontinue or sell out a few of the previous releases first!
-Clayton