2025 11 16

Haley & The Rainbo. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2022. © Clayton Hauck

If I’m being honest, my sister is the real reason I’m doing any of this art stuff. She’s always been more thoughtful and knowledgeable about all things art. I feel like a poser, by comparison. I’m working on it, though!

While watching this fantastic (as always) Alec Soth video (below), I both thought of Haley who loves to send and give physical objects while also contemplating how so much of what he says mirrors my own internal dialogue for justifying a career pivot towards photobooks and prints. I’m spending a ton of my time both printing my own work, leaning, and growing, while also now purchasing the work of others to sell in our Realm bookshop. This image is from my first printed zine — check it out! I promise I’ll stop hyping my blog soon, it’s just exciting to have physical work out in the wild and not yet something I’m used to.

-Clayton

2025 11 10

Haley, dreaming of being a hobo. Chana, Illinois. October, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

There’s so much beauty in these small Illinois towns we’ve been exploring. I’m still not certain if it’s mostly due to my lack of exposure to these sort of places, thus making them (ironically) new and exciting. I don’t think that’s it, though. The textures, the visible history, the grit and lack of attention. These are the things that keep me coming back.

-Clayton

2025 10 02

Haley & Buddy. Dixon, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

Here’s a recent favorite snap. Definitely need to get back into the habit of sharing images of people and a bit less images of trash on the sidewalk and busted cars. We’ll get there. I can never fully quit the busted cars, though. Excited to get back out to the farm maybe this weekend! I’ve got tons more images from there, as well…

-Clayton

2025 08 28

Haley at Consignment Lounge, Chicago, Illinois. June 2025. © Clayton Hauck

Yes, behind on posting again. We’ve been out visiting family over the weekend. Specifically, at my sister’s new spot in rural Illinois. Lots of fun and lots of photos, as well. I’m so behind on editing. Aiming to get a bunch of that done this coming week, which will hopefully then lead to more regularly-scheduled posting around here.

-Clayton

2025 08 06

Haley and the barn. Kingdom, Illinois. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

I’ve always been fascinated by how people exteeeeend words audibly while saying a list of things they want to feel more impactful. “I’m so busy! I have to waaaaalk the dooooog, cleeeean the baaaathroom; there’s just no time!” When I was a kid, I recall being in the kitchen with my mom and her friend. The woman did this while listing off some things in mundane conversation and I called her out on it. Not in a judgy way, but more so asking if they’d ever noticed how everyone does this. I remember her reaction being quite lackluster, to my astonishment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she said, most likely.

Anyway, back to work. I have a loooot of important things to do today.

-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 04 07

Haley, somewhere in northern Illinois. December, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

I started an account on the new Foto app. While I’m not super optimistic it will become the next big thing in photography sharing, I do like what they seem to be trying to do. Social media has transformed drastically since the innocent early days of Instagram, and I’m finding myself less interested in again reshaping instant-gratification-based phone apps and more interested in slow & steady approaches, such as this here blog and my new site, everyoneisfamous.

All that said, there is no doubt in the potential power social apps hold, and I’m simultaneously finding myself considering a much-reluctant sign up to Tik Tok, as my career pivot will be far more reliant on consistent eye balls than it had been previously. And TikTok is where the eye balls are.

Anyway, if you do happen to be on the Foto app, give me a follow @claytonhauck (be my tenth friend)! The devs will apparently be rolling out a web-based presence later this year, which might be a nice compliment to the mobile app, which has been enjoyable in my experience thus far.

-Clayton