2025 06 08

Business, man. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

Today, Sunday, I was supposed to work but decided to take the day off, still exhausted from the shoot that wrapped the day prior. Making photos for a living has evolved quite dramatically in the twenty-odd years I’ve been doing it. Things move much faster and expectations are far higher, these days.

One quick story I’m reminded of that made me laugh:

My friend, and fellow commercial photographer, decided to capture his son’s prom night through well-lit portraits. He grabbed a bunch of his equipment from the studio, brought it home and set it up, and made a bunch of photos as the kids were getting ready to head out for the night. The kids then expected him to send them the photos immediately, surely so they could post them to social media, as people do. My friend, however, does not work that way. These photos had to first go off to his retoucher for touch-ups and processing before they could be considered finished. A week, maybe two weeks, then you can see the images, kids!

It’s both interesting and depressing to consider how value of images is lost, often immediately, by the inevitable passing of time. Like a new car driving off the lot, the photos you made last night that had everyone so excited, are often forgotten next day.

Last week, I had a stylist email me asking to see images from a campaign we shot a decade ago (!). My first thought was to laugh about how little value those images must have now. It was the largest budget for any production in my entire career, but after ten years, surely all of those images have met their end — replaced by cheaper images from nicer cameras, right? To my surprise, the stylist emailed back with some screen grabs she pulled off the client’s website, still proudly showing our decade-old images.

-Clayton

2025 06 03

Walking through a bygone era. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

I’ll admit it, I’ve been severely slacking on my Creative Resolution this year. Only a few days have I gone out with the Ricoh GRiii to make street photos. Not much to show for it, however, I do aim to work the camera into a commercial project later this week, which is a fun development as far as my camera equipment goes.

One ongoing realization I’ve had recently is that I already have a ridiculous amount of photos. It would probably be beneficial to spend more time publicizing my existing work and less time making new work. Alas, the act of photographing is far more enjoyable.

-Clayton

2025 03 26

The city at night. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

Recently I was downtown for an event and afterward, I made an effort to wander a bit. The streets were eerily silent. I dipped into Billy Goat for a burger and a beer along with the three or four other humans (more staff than guests) who seemed to be out, for whatever reason, either running away or towards something.

A great idea then struck my brain: I would get a scooter and ride home like the wind. This led me astray in search of one when the big lights in the distance caught my eyes. “Hooter’s,” it said. Not yet having my fill of adventure, and recalling the news of the likely demise of yet another fine American establishment, I stepped in.

“Seat at the bar okay?” I asked the greeter (again, more staff than guests), and she motioned me inward. The wings came soon after and boy did I wonder why the joint wasn’t full of customers enjoying them. These things are delicious! I kicked myself for being too timid to frequent Hooter’s all my life for the wings alone.

I left as they were locking up. The man alone at the bar turned out to be an undercover security guard or manager, as I suspected (more staff than guests). I guess everyone gets their wings delivered to them from some other chain these days?

Across the street sat a fully charged scooter glowing in the darkness with my name on it. I rode like the wind just as I’d imagined I would, turning here and there into which ever dark street didn’t look familiar. This was an adventure and I had the city to myself. All the way home I rode and contemplated how cool it would be to start a scooter gang. Surely, this must be how the first gang was formed way back before the police cornered the market on gangs.

-Clayton

2025 01 19

Chicago, Illinois. January, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

Today, Sunday, is a day of relaxation. Tomorrow, Monday, begins the Trump Two Point Oh Era. Over the weekend, he launched a shitcoin which made him one of the world’s richest people in a matter of hours, while clearly plotting with TikTok to give him a quick PR win with the kids.

All of this is going on while millions of people like myself make a calculated effort to pay as little attention as possible to all of this because we know it’s inevitable, unstoppable, and will only drive us slowly insane if we do. Everything is wrong; everything is right. God is dead and the aliens are here. Stay sane out there. Here’s Tom with the weather.

-Clayton

2025 01 18

Man on ladder. Chicago, Illinois. January, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

This morning, I decided on a whim to start posting images I made for my new creative resolution to the socials (and this here blog) as I make them, in an effort to motivate me to make stronger images. It’ll be a process, no doubt, but we’ll see where it takes us!

This image was from a short session on a dreary afternoon day in which I spent most of the time figuring out how the focus works on my new Ricoh GRiii (not to be confused with my old Ricoh GRiiix with the dirty sensor).

-Clayton