2025 07 26
Lost shoe? Chicago, Illinois. November, 2022. © Clayton Hauck
It is quite remarkable how, in the blink of an eye, one missed day balloons into three.
-Clayton
2025 07 25
Lil house on the South Side, Chicago, Illinois. November, 2022. © Clayton Hauck
From the recent archives… working on the zine… which will realistically become more of a booklet. I have minimal expectations for how many of these I will actually sell, but much like this here blog, that’s not why I’m doing it. The process, so far, has been very enjoyable and motivating. It’s giving me purpose, which is nice. Printing and pairing images is exciting and I’m hoping to partner with some friends on the design portion, which is where I am weaker. It’s giving me grand ideas of doing all of this more and making it part of what I do. Becoming a publisher, an imprint, whatever it may be. Of course, dreaming is easy and things often change corse once the going gets tough.
-Clayton
2025 07 22
French fried potatoes. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
While yes, it’s true, I’m very busy with a lot of things (I’ll get you those photos soooooon, everyone!), the real reason I missed posting on time yesterday was because I discovered an amazing lil game (via youtube, where I learn about most things lately). It’s called Open Front and it’s free to play and quite addictive. I’d def recommend checking it out if you’re at all a Civ nerd like me (however — maybe don’t click that link if you have things to do).
-Clayton
2025 07 21
GO E-Z. Chicago (I think), Illinois. November (I think), 2022. © Clayton Hauck
When I first got my Ricoh GRiiix back in 2022, this here blog did not exist. Also, the camera date was wrong for a few years, so I have no accurate information about when the images were made beyond my naming conventions, which are fortunately a close approximation.
Lately, I’ve been going back through these old images in an effort to turn them into something a bit more tangible. A printed zine is the current working plan, which will feature both images and writing. This image likely won’t make the cut, but I like the message it sent to me: Go easy (on myself).
One quick takeaway was how frantic I was shooting when I first got the camera. It’s no wonder the thing is so coated in dust that it’s almost unusable now.
More on this another day soon.
-Clayton
2025 07 20
Another busted car. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
It’s officially the end of Catalpa Season in Chicago. Busted Car Season never ends.
-Clayton
2025 07 19
Looking down on The Loop. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Here’s an image made with my relatively new Ricoh GR3 (not the X, the wider lens!), which I haven’t been using as much as I’d planned to (lack of time). Also, I haven’t been writing (here or in general) as much as I want to (lack of time). What is the point in telling you, dear reader, all of this? I’m not sure. I guess it’s simply a reminder to myself that, while there are many things I would love to do, there is only so much time to do them. Prioritization is crucial! Stacking images for the rest of my life, like a modern-day Garry Winogrand, is realistically not the best use of my time in today’s age of image over-saturation.
-Clayton
PS- on the subject of not having spare time: if you happen to see this post on or prior to July 20th between 10am-2pm, you should totally come to our Realm photobook popup (happening from 10am-2pm at New Wave Coffee in Chicago’s Logan Square). In addition to myself, Jack Garland, and a bunch of amazing photobooks that you can buy, we’ll have fellow photographer Cengiz Yar in person signing copies of his new book This Alabaster Grave. Hope to see you then!
2025 07 18
Double rainbow. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Sometimes a double rainbow really helps brighten your day. I continue to think someone needs to make an app that sends you a push notification whenever a rainbow or pretty sunset is occuring nearby. Feel free to steal that idea.
-Clayton
2025 07 16
Greed. Do you see it? Chicago, Illinois. June 2025. © Clayton Hauck
You don’t need to leave your neighborhood to make good photos. This is what my dog Buddy has taught me. He’s also harassing me to finally print those zines I’ve been meaning to get to. Okay, Buddy. I’m on it!
-Clayton
2025 07 15
On the road, to somewhere. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Well, it finally happened — we hit a busy period with work and life, then vacation hit, and the next thing you know I’m a few weeks behind on posting to this here blog. It is what it is, and I’m not going to be too hard on myself. That said, I do aim to pick back up where we left off and (hopefully) stick with the daily posts once again, especially considering I’m sensing a bit of a shift in my photography career and I have lots of new work, heading in new directions, to explore. This here blog is a nice, low stakes place to do that.
While up north on vacation, we briefly explored some places I’d never previously been (Bayfield, WI; Ironwood, MI; Hurley, WI), along with a few I had (Ashland, WI and the Bad River Reservation land), and some we didn’t get to but that I very much aim to make happen soon (Laurium, MI and Marquette, MI). I bring all of this up because this land has sparked some new ideas in me that perhaps I will explore in the coming years. Some photography-based projects and ideas, which first I will explore remotely through reading and researching. We’ll see if that leads to something, but just getting excited about the potential helps keep me motivated to push ahead in this weird world of photography.
More soon, thanks for reading.
-Clayton
2025 07 02
Dollar General. Dixon, Illinois. June, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Some great nuggets in this talk with Tim Carpenter and Jason Lee. Photography is showing how you make sense of the world. Heidegger said: it’s not what we know about the world that’s really ourselves, it’s our habits and our inclinations, and the way we move through it; that’s who we really are.
When I pulled into the parking lot (reluctantly, as I loathe Dollar General) to buy some cups, this scene got me incredibly excited. I snapped a few frames out my window with the trusty Ricoh, and here we are, discussing it on the internet a week later.
Will it work as well in b/w? Likely not. Luckily I’m a color junkie.
-Clayton
2025 07 01
Dead plant. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
While out doing yard work this morning, I was pondering the idea of time, and how it’s so beneficial to work on tasks with the figurative wind at your back. It took me hours to give our yard a minimal dose of needed water, as I aim to help the plants I wish to thrive grow as big as they can in the time they have. Had Mother Nature decided to do the job for me, it would have been completed in mere minutes without my assistance. This may be an obvious observation, but lately I’m using this analogy quite a lot in my own life. As my list of tasks grows larger than possible to accomplish as one person, I can either choose triage or expand my capabilities through the help of others. Neglect is, of course, also an option. Like this plant, parts of my life will wither and die, with likely undesired weeds taking their place.
The garden is life. Everything can be compared to the garden.
-Clayton
2025 06 28
Moonlight through bare trees. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Take more photos of people! Nobody wants to look at the moon!
I get it, I get it.
Another Paulie B banger popped into my feed today, with photographer Andrew McEnaney, and it really inspired me to get more people into my personal work. It’s a work in progress, I swear! But it’s coming. Until then, you can enjoy the moon photos. Or not, that’s up to you.
-Clayton
2025 06 27
Another Busted Car. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
As I post another Busted Car image to this here blog (content!), I’m reminded of this banger Noah Kalina post from a few days back.
-Clayton
2025 06 26
Another Mr Peepers. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
It’s been too long since a Mr Peepers has made an appearance on this here blog.
-Clayton
2025 06 24
Yard bags. Pekin, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
If the shot isn’t interesting enough, just add a peace sign.
This snap spoke to me today because part of the reason I fell so behind on posting was: yard work. It’s that time of the year when all of the things which had been rumbling below the surface exploded upward once we got one of those much-needed rain showers. Our yard was transformed, seemingly overnight, from a respectable space to a showcase of weeds and invasive garden auditioners.
One fun takeaway from having a yard, that I think of often, is how plants are a lot like people. They all have different styles and sensibilities; some move fast while others take their time. The strategies for survival are as varied as the personality types of people. I like thinking about how all of us living things are kind of the same, yet so very different.
-Clayton
2025 06 23
Another day, another busted car. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This is one of my favorite Busted Cars. I know I keep saying it, but I really do think a zine is needed to house these images. If only I’d been neatly organizing them on my hard drives. I need to get on the cloud or whatever y’all are using to search your image libraries these days.
-Clayton
2025 06 22
Open. Be Back Tuesday. Dixon, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
It’s wild how quickly time moves on once you de-prioritize something from your life.
-Clayton
2025 06 19
On the road, Ill Wandering. Rushville, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Here’s another image I printed for the show I’m hosting this Friday. This frame was a bit of a happy accident as a scrambled to capture the full moon while driving, but it’s the motion blur that makes it work. I will say, I prefer the color version of this with its beautiful and moody end-of-day light, however, I pushed myself to further explore black & white conversions for this show, since all of the images from David Catalano are without color and I didn’t want to stand out. Even though I typically prefer color, I do also love b/w and want to get better at processing images with tones I am happy with. Then, printing is a whole ‘nother challenge!
-Clayton