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Dave wearing the Shame Hat. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2022. © Clayton Hauck

As I’ve mentioned previously, I very much feel like I’m back in school these days with my work doing Realm Books. It has brought me a nonstop constant supply of images to digest and consume. While I think it’s important to maintain a healthy balance of creating vs consuming, both are important to the process. Through the years I’ve been guilty of leaning too heavily into one or the other — either spending all my time making work and thinking I know best or making no work and feeling like I’m incapable of doing so at the level of quality I strive for. These days I’m actively working on finding and maintaining the balance between creating and consuming.

Always a fan of Bryan’s videos, this one today is well worth a watch just to give you some sparks of inspiration. It definitely did for me, at least.

-Clayton

2025 02 20

The Kickback play an acoustic set at See You Soon. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

In doing a lot of “research” towards shooting motion, I’ve also been watching and discovering a ton of youtube channels. There’s a lot of great stuff out there, which is both inspiring and concerning (from a business mindset)! This lil gem from Mandelbro below popped into my feed and was a much needed breath of fresh air on a day like today where the world sure does feel as though it is falling apart.

He touches on the idea in the video, but my decision to open a photo studio three odd years ago remains one on of my favorites yet. While it’s been an insane amount of work, wildly challenging, and realistically far too expensive to justify, the new connections and life paths it has opened up for me have me it all worthwhile. Here’s hoping this year’s pivot to video will provide some similar gains, as I know the time, energy, and money required is going to be daunting.

-Clayton