2025 07 24

Jason Little during a Keep it 100 session at See You Soon, Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025.

It is time, I think, for another in my series of Becoming a Portrait Studio Updates. See, previously:

1) Becoming a Portrait Studio: 2025 03 24
2) Update Number One: 2025 05 13

I really dislike getting all negative on here but, to be candid, the momentum has stalled quite dramatically. I’m sure it’s a complicated mix of reasons as to why, and while it’s easy to blame myself I do think a lot of these things are out of your control, to an extent. Consistency is the only real solution, but with the drop in bookings I’ve seen this time around, it’s hard to want to keep pushing forward! All that said, I’m going to commit to carrying on, largely because some of the more exciting things I have planned for this setup haven’t been rolled out yet (namely, the everyoneisfamous.com website, which is admittedly stagnant currently, along with doing on-location versions of the setup).

Rambling aside, and before I get to the numbers for the previous run of dates, the big reason I hit a demoralizing snag is that for the first time my email blast had absolutely zero effect on bookings (I need the good leads — the Annie Leibovitz leads!). I had more people unsubscribe than I had book a session. Relentless social media posts also had basically zero effect on bookings. The only thing that somewhat saved me on the current run of dates that are happening now (nobody booked today, so I’m venting a bit here!), is that I had two families sign up for the higher price point. One of those families then reached out asking where they can get prints made, so I clearly need to work on communication, as I ofter prints myself! Perhaps that is the big takeaway overall: that in treating this like a side hustle and not like a proper business in itself, many things get lost in translation or never communicated to the people who need to hear them.

I won’t get into the numbers for this month but they are quite horrendous and not at all worth the time I set aside to offer this. When factoring in the cost of the space, I am losing money on the endeavor (and not at all covering my rent, which was the goal this month). But again, money is not the sole motivating force here! I’m still hoping to explore a related approach to the Keep it 100 setup in a small town later this summer — the idea is creative and interesting but will also likely require me to fund it myself to make it all happen. These things are only sustainable for so long. Being an artist is hard. But we knew that…

In May, I put some dates on the calendar and bookings were slow. I blamed the late notice I gave people and accidentally scheduling it between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day while people are likely busy with life stuff. Because of all that, I wasn’t too hard on myself, but I was bummed at the tepid turnout. Over six dates, we had nine sessions resulting in $1,400 in revenue plus $300 in tips (which came from one person), or $1,700 total income. This equals $283/day which is about what the space costs to rent. The general lack of tips also inspired me to increase the base fee from $150 to $175 per individual session. This is still a steal in my view but quite in line with what a lot of other local portrait photographers are charging for their sessions. Again, the economics of photography are borderline impossible these days!

The current run, which is still happening through the end of the week (book a session, why don’t you?!) had more dates, far more advanced notice, and has so far resulted in less revenue than May did. Basically, I’m only doing this for myself at this point and it’s not a viable business endeavor. That said, I’m not giving up just yet and want to try to crack the code. Nearly 40% of the few who did book this run are people who previously paid for a shoot, which is remarkable to me! It seems very clear people love these sessions and I generally love doing them (the time commitment for little money is a drag, obviously). This tells me the failure is largely in communication, which might be repairable. I’m also learning things and growing as a photographer, which is an intangible value but not one my landlord accepts as payment. The hard costs will eventually kill me at this rate, however. Eventually the camera will break down. Two strobe batteries just needed replacement and that alone set me back the cost of three sessions! And I haven’t even given a thought to taxes yanking away 40% of the gains. Grim economics.

All that said, I’m excited to get the companion website everyoneisfamous.com in a better place as it’s still in a sort of beta hibernation state. I just haven’t had the time for it yet. Once that happens and I get a few summer popups going, perhaps we’ll see more enthusiasm later this year. Also, while this setup is really fun for me, it’s admittedly not for everyone. I haven’t made an attempt (see: lack of time) to offer more conventional portrait sessions, which I think I’d both be really good at and enjoy, plus could command a higher price point. It’s something I plan to further explore as my entire photography career shifts in ways I am still navigating.

Thanks for reading and good luck shooting if you’re doing so to pay your bills!

-Clayton

PS- it’s fitting that, while writing this, we have WBEZ playing and it’s a constant fundraising plea after they just got their federal funding yanked. As someone who has always been a commercially-focused photographer, I am learning firsthand the economics of the arts and it’s wild.

2025 04 19

Joseph during a Keep it 100 session. See You Soon, Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Another run of Keep it 100 in the books. This month I did 16 sessions, down from 19 sessions last run. Anecdotal evidence for sure, but it seems like thoughts of recession are starting to resonate with people. I figured having my new everyoneisfamous.com website up would help drive bookings to my affordable portraits, but it had no noticeable effect. Maybe it’s still too early? I’m not sure. But what I am sure about is photography is fucking hard lately. I think there will be a lot of used camera gear on eBay soon. Good luck out there, everyone.

-Clayton

2025 03 28

Craig, in the studio for a Keep it 100 session at See You Soon. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

My new website is now live! Give it a look, it’s called everyoneisfamous.com.

I’ll likely be spending a bit less time here as I get situated over there, but I won’t quit you, Pointing at Stuff dot com!

-Clayton

2025 03 24

Mal, from a Keep it 100 session at See You Soon. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Becoming a Portrait Studio
by Clayton Hauck

The following thoughts were written in conjunction with an event happening later this week. Keeping The Lights On: An evening with photographers Clayton Hauck and Jason Little. They will discuss the importance of creative exploration within personal work and projects. You can rsvp for that event here.

Becoming a studio portrait photographer has been a humbling process and far more challenging than I anticipated. While, yes, I’ve been a professional photographer for two decades now, I’ve actively avoided pursuing portrait or headshot clients. Previously, I didn’t have the studio space and for that reason alone it never made much sense. Dedicated space aside, the economics of portrait photography is challenging, especially in today’s market, where everyone is either a photographer themselves or knows a skilled photographer. 

All this said, I became obsessed with a setup artist Jeremy Cowart was offering and sharing via his Instagram. He now calls it The Portrait Lab and has built an entire business around the concept in his hometown of Franklin, Tennessee, outside of Nashville. The methods that caught my attention were his use of a projector to change the background throughout the shoot (he’s now using a fancy LED wall), along with varied lighting schemes which cycle through as you shoot. Basically, I loved the idea of creating a more organic and random situation inside of a controlled studio setting. It would blend a bit of my own candid photographic style into a more traditional portrait approach and I had to try it for myself.

Days of internet sleuthing and rabbit holes eventually led me to the setup I now use (though I prioritize tweaks and trying new things each time I set it up). Jeremy is quite open about his process and has laid much of it out in various industry talks you can find online. For me, the biggest hurdle was not figuring out how to technically do it, but the decision to blatantly steal the idea of another artist. It’s one I still struggle with, while doing everything I can to make the setup my own in the process. For example, he embraced Ai while I shunned it and made Anti-Artificial Intelligence the core focal point of my process.

The name “Keep it 100” came to me while editing photos late one night in the studio. Chicago’s now mayor Brandon Johnson was doing a campaign event, dropped the line in conversation, and it just sort of clicked. I could offer people one-hundred unique photos for one-hundred dollars in one-hundred seconds, all while shunning Ai and providing people with real-life images in a style that is hard to believe isn’t artificial. It would showcase the power that photography can still wield in a world where technological advancements are eroding our standards towards what we believe is real.

THE NEXT BIG THING IN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

The first few test shoots I did were so fun that I was completely convinced this thing was going to be huge. In my head, I was envisioning renting spaces to open additional studios while completely customizing the experience to whatever the subjects wanted. Different colors, backdrops, lighting vibes, propping, wardrobe, etc. It would be like a professional wedding photo booth on steroids and there would be lines out the door, I thought! This thing was going to be so big I could pivot my career and open up locations offering these quick and exciting portrait sessions all over the country! Like a photo-obsessed Ray Krok, I was already perfecting the operational flow as guests moved through the setup. 

Then I started offering sessions — for free — to my friends and Instagram followers. That’s when the challenging reality of the situation began to set in. While I’d been thinking this thing would quite literally sell itself and get instantly booked solid whenever I made openings available, the exact opposite thing happened. Nobody cared. It was hard to get people to come by and park themselves in front of my camera, even for the low price of freeeeee! 

Quickly, I learned that convincing people to come to you and give you any amount of money is no easy task, even when you’re offering what you consider to be the world’s best portrait deal. Communicating your ideas are even more important than executing them. That was the takeaway, and it was demoralizing and almost made me give up; it’s what I’m still working on well over a year later.

SALES > SKILLS 

This is the grim reality that artists like myself never want to believe is true. We like to think that good work will rise to the top and get an audience naturally. That people will come flocking to us for our skills alone. That if we only buckle down and focus on producing the best work, everything else will fall into place naturally. At the same time, we love to complain about how so-and-so is terrible and it’s dumbfounding that they got signed by a rep and are working on huge productions all of the time. We focus on the negatives and make excuses that don’t help us in any way. I’m amazed by how often I catch myself remembering that not everyone else already knows and thinks the same things I do.

The portrait setup, for me, was a great refresher in starting out as a photographer — this shit is hard! 

While things started very slow, they did eventually pick up, hardly thanks to my own doing. I stumbled along, offering portrait openings every few months as my schedule allowed, but bookings were light even at my $100 price point. Fortunately, my studio has also allowed me to expand my social network as I’m meeting lots of people through the various events that we host. This is when I learned the value of influencers (another thing we photographers love to scoff at!).

Dennis Lee is a super talented guy (you can find him at Food is Stupid and The Party Cut). He booked a $100 session and loved the results so much that he wrote about it on his popular newsletter, while also telling me I was insane for making it so cheap, which helped me to raise my prices. This was just the bump I needed. Both a social proof-of-concept and a shot of much-needed confidence for myself, the next session found itself a ton more bookings, largely thanks to Dennis, and also because I’d kept at it through the awkward period when things weren’t working out as I thought they were going to.

After the Influencer Bump, I embraced the word-of-mouth method and began to focus on shaping an email list to help promote the offering (something I should have been doing from day one). I woke up one Monday last fall and decided to drop another run of dates the following week. Within hours, I had a dozen bookings already lined up. This was the moment I realized I was on to something with some real potential.

LETS TALK NUMBERS

Earlier I mentioned stealing Jeremy’s idea as being difficult for me. It still is. Another challenge is the super low price point. As a commercial photographer, I’m used to being “too expensive” for clients on a regular basis. We have high standards and we are pretty tough about sticking to them, so me coming out and offering dirt cheap portrait sessions both goes against my own standards and does a disservice to other portrait photographers who make a living doing this work, which is another thing I’m very sensitive to.

So why do I do it?

This answer is complicated and, admittedly, still evolving. My immediate response is that it’s a tough market and the only easy way to get regular bookings is to offer a deal so good that people can’t resist. But this doesn’t justify undercutting your colleagues. My current working justification is that this is a trade. While, yes, I’m giving people wildly affordable portraits (my pricing has since risen to $150, with various add-ons also available to help make it more lucrative for me), I’m also doing it on my own terms. In a sense, these cheap sessions are paid test shoots for me. I’m using whatever backgrounds and lighting schemes I want to try out and learn from, while keeping each session very short (ten minutes or less, usually) so that I can squeeze in a bunch each day. This helps make the math work better without compromising the results — people are still getting an incredible value and the low price point makes me feel good, in a way, that I am providing a “high end” service for an accessible fee. It’s important to me that I’m able to cater towards faces and personalities that otherwise would not show up if I was charging, say, $600 a session (a price that is far more representative of my time and the equipment involved in making all of this happen).

All that said, when my agent tells me I “look desperate” and am ruining my reputation, I don’t fully disagree with her. This industry runs on perception, and the guy doing cheap headshots, or shooting weddings, or events, can’t be trusted to handle a McDonald’s production the following week. Love it or not, that’s how things work. 

Her solution is for me to raise my prices significantly. My solution is to drop them and make the whole thing an art project. My end goal is to make Keep it 100 run as a project that primarily raises money for charity, while working with sponsors and finding other creative solutions to fund it and make money for myself. While the vision is still formulating in my brain (and is very much inspired by another friend and Keep it 100 backer, John Carruthers), and I have a lot of work left to do, it’s this goal which is driving me forward and keeping me most excited about the project.

IN CONCLUSION

Trust me, I hate talking about this stuff. I’d much rather be at the studio shooting new sessions right now and letting things play out organically. But I’m also learning that it’s important, both for marketing purposes (yuck) and my own sanity, to dedicate time towards processing everything and talking about it. Without stopping to digest what you are doing and why it is either working or not working, you risk driving yourself mad in the process or missing potentially simple solutions which allow your idea the space it needs to grow into what you know it has the potential to be.

I’m excited to share the next phase of this endevour, which is largely me getting back to my roots, in the coming days.

-Clayton

Thanks for reading and if you want to hear more about this, the next phase of Keep it 100, and various other personal projects I’ve been working on, stop by my studio this Thursday for the APA Chicago event. Click here to book a session or sign up for the Keep it 100 email alert list and get some fun new photos of your own!

2025 02 05

Madeline. See You Soon, Chicago, Illinois. November, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Here’s a portrait from my Keep it 100 portrait setup, which I am offering all this week at my See You Soon studio. Sign up for a session and get some photos made of yourself, why don’t you? Just this week, I’ve started incorporating short interviews along with each subject who wishes to participate. I will eventually package them into blog form, I just need to figure out where that blog will live (its own website, here, or within the studio website, more likely).

This image was made with my new petzval lens, which I bough specifically for exploring within this setup (downside is no autofocus).

-Clayton