2025 11 15
Cat. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2022. © Clayton Hauck
I’ve managed to be relatively okay at keeping plants alive mostly due to one trick I thought up, which I’m quite proud of. The way I remember to water my plants is that the first and the fifteenth are water days. Of course, I don’t always hit the days exactly, but I know that if it’s the beginning or the middle of the month, the plants probably need some water. They’re happy; I’m happy; it’s worked quite well for years now. That said, a few of my plants are now up there in years and clearly in decline. I’m not sure this method is so effective anymore and I likely need to come up with something more appropriate for my elder house plants.
-Clayton
2025 07 31
Neighborhood cat. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
…or maybe I’m still a cat person, after all.
-Clayton
2025 07 29
Haley, the cat lurer. Mineral Point, Wisconsin. April, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
My whole life I’ve been a cat person. Recently, however, I’ve found myself wondering if I’m actually more of a dog person (who also really loves cats). The reality is that I haven’t had a ton of exposure to dogs and when I was a kid, a few of my friends had dogs that scarred the shit out of me, which put a bad taste in my mouth towards them.
In a similar fashion, my entire career as a photographer, I’ve been a bulk shooter. Coming up in the digital era and doing work at events and photojournalism assignments, it was always beneficial to shoot more than you think you need. Then, as my career developed and I began doing mostly commercial assignments, the same approach applied — maximize the output! Lately, however, I’ve been wondering if there’s actually a better way to go about things; to slow it down and focus on just the best images.
More on this tomorrow…
-Clayton
2025 03 04
What’s going on out there? Chicago, Illinois. December, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
We live in wild times. It’s depressing and I’ve made the calculated decision to mostly ignore it, to the best of my abilities, and focus on myself and my work. I’m not certain it will be possible to ignore it much longer at the pace we are moving, but in my experience, engaging does more harm to my mental health than good. Lots of people I know agree with this approach and are attempting to practice it themselves. This also scares me.
Staring at the television this morning in an effort to pay some attention and it leaves me thinking we are swiftly heading for a recession. This thought is a difficult one in that I will likely need to completely rework my own professional career: lose the studio to cut overhead, get a side job, lower my rates, etc, etc. Everything is on the table. It almost feels like the powers that be know this reality and it’s precisely why they are taking the actions they are taking. The bums lost, Lebowski.
Until that day comes we will keep calm and carry on. Good luck, everyone. I’m turning the tv off.
-Clayton