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
2025 06 18
House in spring. Mt Sterling, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
I printed some recent Ill Wandering images in black & white, this one included, for a photography show this Friday, June 20th, at my studio. If you’re one of the three people who will see this post and are free that night, it would be swell if you could swing on through! There will be drinks and snacks, along with photos from two other photographers and our Realm photobook popup shop. In a way, it’s kind of like my own art photography coming out party, or at least that’s what it feels like.
More info about the event can be found here.
-Clayton
2025 06 15
Sun sets on the flatland. Thawville, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Now that I’ve been at my Illinois Project for over a year (granted, actual shooting time has been quite minimal as I’m mostly busy fighting the fight in the big city), I’m starting to get a better sense of what it is I’m looking to do. Early images, such as this one made a year ago, while nice, are too pulled back. I’m not a landscape photographer, but I was finding myself making lots of landscape photos. I need to get in the action and find the vibes!
Yesterday, at our third Realm photobook shop popup, while surrounded by some of the best art photobooks on the market, I met a local photographer. He showed me some of what he’s been working on and I immediately found myself lost in the feelings of inadequacy. This guy’s work is very good and surely he’s well on his way to publishing a meaningful book. While that in itself is great, immediately comparing myself to him and focusing on my shortcomings is not a productive reaction. Part of what makes art great is that we all have different perspectives on the world. It’s what makes us stand out. Trying to make my images look more like his, or someone else’s, is not the right approach, in my humble opinion.
That said, there are definitely productive takeaways that can be had from these tough interactions! Two quick ones:
1) Shoot less like an editorial photogrpaher and more like an artist. I’ve been a working photographer for nearly two decades and my brain has been trained to give the client what they want. Whether it’s a large commercial project or small editorial assignment, I’m a people pleaser at the end of the day. The trouble with this is when I’m out making work for myself, I’m finding myself shooting as if I’m on assignment. I am, in a sense, on a self-assignment but I default to shooting around a scene to get all of the angles and then spending a ton of time pouring over the selects, toning & adjusting, which is very time consuming.
2) Stop comparing myself to others. I’m not the next Ansel Adams and never will be, nor do I want to be! Many people will have better work than me. It is what it is and, instead of getting jealous, I should focus on the things I can control myself. Perhaps this is an obvious one but I think it’s important to remind myself of this regularly!
I’m considering a new section on this here blog with all of my Ill Wandering posts. If it does ever turn into something (a book, likely), it would be nice to have all of these thoughts nearly organized to look back on (and probably laugh at). If that’s something you would be interested in, let me know below!
-Clayton
2025 06 14
Weekend beers. Old Schlitz sign. Gardner, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I’m still trying to figure out what to post, what not to post, from my Illinois Wanderings. I’m still trying to figure out what the project even is. This is not a bad thing, it’s the whole reason I started this here blog. To feel things out; to figure things out. What is working and what isn’t working.
-Clayton
2025 06 13
Main Street, minus the character. Canton, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Today, something I wrote for my See You Soon studio newsletter that just went out. If you want in on that action, you can sign up over yonder!
As the space continues to evolve, I myself can feel an evolution happening within me. It only makes sense, considering the world around us is changing in ways beyond our control. The commercial photography landscape, too, is unrecognizable compared to what it was when I got my start in it just over a decade ago. Difficulties aside, I continue to see all the changes as a positive (because you gotta stay positive!).
One big example of why I’m seeing the glass as half full is that I’ve had time to focus on areas of photography that have gone neglected for the last ten years, namely: Art!
Earlier this month, we said goodbye to a dear friend, Don’t Fret. While his passing is one that I am continuing to process, there are two immediate and actionable takeaways for me: (first, an obvious one) we have limited time on this planet; (second, a less obvious one) make shit happen; don’t fret.
Don’t Fret the artist was great at translating his endless flow of thoughts & ideas into the artwork he scattered throughout our fair city. My own personal final memories of my friend (…let’s make this about me!) will always be with regret — I hesitated to act. We’d begun filming a documentary about his life and his art, but due to my own perfectionism or hesitancy or whatever, we didn’t get nearly as much shot as hindsight could’ve allowed.
So for that reason, I am now entering my Don’t Fret Era. To sum it up: I’m focusing on the Art and Making Shit Happen. All of my photography obsessions which have been shoved into the closet because they aren’t commercial or sellable are now what I’m focusing on — the fact that Chicago does not have a photobook shop, a fact that has bugged me for years, is now my number one target.
On that note, and I swear we’ll wrap it up here, I would love it if you check out what we’re up to both here at the space and at the hopefully-soon-to-be new home of Realm, our collective answer to fill the hearts of Chicago’s photography obsessed.
-Clayton
2025 06 10
A glance back in time. Pontiac, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I was sent this video (below) and told to watch it, after seeing it pop into my feed and deciding not to (I follow Smarter Every Day but am trying my best to cut down on my youtube time lately). I’m glad it did seep into my brain (thanks Dave!). Honestly, the video resonates with me in so many ways I’m not even sure where to begin. Instead, I will only suggest you give it a watch yourself and see what you take away from it (it’s entertaining, too!).
The one thing I will relate it to here is my ongoing “Ill Wandering” photo project. While out exploring the state, I encounter so many places that clearly feel lost to time. This idea that America has declined, or at the very least changed beyond recognition, is real for so many people. I won’t even begin to get into the complexities here, but will say it’s something I spend a lot of time pondering and hopefully even more time documenting in the months and years ahead.
Oh! Also, I will be showing a few images from the series, for the first time ever, on June 20th during a photography show at my studio… just need to figure out which ones, which is always the hard part for me.
-Clayton
2025 05 21
Where we’re going, there won’t be roads. Oregon, Illinois. May, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Kyla’s newsletter continues to be my favorite thing to read these days. She’s able to describe the ominous feels of our current existence in ways that make it make economic sense, and which make me better understand my own urge for the weird and the inconvenient.
And not to get too abstract here in my economic newsletter - but rejection, convenience, and absence of surprise are all economic questions. When enough people choose friction over convenience, markets respond. We're seeing early signs of this: the (slow) revival of independent bookstores, the rise of deinfluencing, the growing market for durability over disposability, especially as the economy turns.
These are emerging from the simple recognition that the frictionless life is ultimately unsatisfying. Even the secular, modern, economic soul hungers for something deeper than convenience!
Slightly on this topic, and also because my existing “job” isn’t quite working like it used to, I’m opening up a photobook shop! Well, at the very least, we are running a “proof of concept” that a photobook-dedicated shop is, in fact, the good idea we strongly feel it is. Last Sunday was our first popup and this Sunday is our second. If you want to come check it out, we will be at New Wave Coffee (2557 N Milwaukee Ave) from 10am-2pm on May 25th. After two dates are in the books, and after we assess the response (early signs: good!), I will get into more detail here about what we plan to do.
Give us a follow on Instagram in the meantime (actual website coming later) @Realm.Chicago — oh yeah, we’re called Realm.
-Clayton
2025 05 19
Midewin Tallgrass Prairie, Wilmington, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
A former wartime bunker in a former tallgrass prairie which is being redeveloped back into a tallgrass prairie.
-Clayton
2025 05 18
Joliet, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Nature attempts to foil man’s attempt at sanctuary. Don’t forget to pay the landscaping invoice.
-Clayton
2025 05 17
Rust belt remnants. Joliet, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This used to be an iron mill. Now it’s a pile of rubble, but there’s a park alongside of it, so we’ll call it a win.
-Clayton
2025 05 07
A storm is a-brewin’. Olney, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
I wrote a thing about an annoying work situation but feel like I can’t talk about that publicly, even without naming names, because it will get into the ears of the people I was writing about and nothing good will come of it. What I will say, however, is that the photography gods are doing their best at keeping me away from commercial photography sets these days. Portraits is what I do now. That, and Illinois Wandering. Oh, I’m also really excited about some video ideas I have. Perhaps losing bids is a good thing, after all.
-Clayton
2024 04 27
Somewhere near Thawville, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Overheard today outside of a bookshop in Spring Green, Wisconsin: “If we’re lucky, they’ll put us in the same concentration camp!”
Dark humor to get through dark times.
-Clayton
2025 04 21
Greenview, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
I stumbled upon this building while out Illinois Wandering last month and I loved the juxtaposition. Lately, this project is feeling increasingly close to home. It might be a stretch, but my brain is connecting these towns to the difficult times my commercial photo industry is now going through. After the industries and jobs left these places, they sit there today a reminder of what happens when society goes through big shifts. What this next shift will leave us with, I do not know, but I’m finding myself increasingly interested in exploring the last shift in hopes to better understand our likely future.
-Clayton
2025 04 20
“The best view in town.” Peoria, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 04 13
Classic car in Thawville, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
If you’re in the neighborhood, check out Artesia Brewery.
-Clayton
2025 04 12
Main Street on Chatsworth, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Another town without people, full of beauty.
-Clayton
2025 04 08
Time is running out. We’re entering a new world. Time Theater. Mattoon, Illinois. April, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
It’s interesting, when you take a mental step back, far back, and consider how we got to where we are today.
Movie studios are being replaced by individual youtubers; magazines are being replaced by individual Substacks; comics are being animated through automation. There is no shortage of examples to indicate how vastly different the landscape of necessary support structures are today, but the one constant is communication. People are seeking authenticity and placing it above all other factors largely because it’s now possible, for the first time ever, to communicate grand ideas — through video, photography, animation, words, all forms — without the need of vast and complicated structures which previously served as a means of control. If the system did not like what you were saying or doing, you had almost no recourse in our previous era. You had to play ball; say the right thing; bribe the right guy; put up with the unsuitable boss.
The downside to the removal of the guardrails, of course, is that we have to deal with chaos. Everyone is right about everything all of the time, which of course means half the population is always wrong. An enemy of the state! What we’ve gained in truth, we’ve given up in caution and stability.
I’m spending far too much time wondering how to make money in today’s wintry economic climate. While the creative community is shrinking in capacity, the supply of creatives is at an all-time high and will continue to grow thanks to the ease and speed of creation now possible. I refuse to become another loud mouth in a sea of attention seekers, which seems to be the obvious path to financial success in these current times.
Trump is now guiding our country because he was accessible, entertaining, and real. Tariffs are now our reality because some guy wrote a book which said all the things he wanted to hear, while using made up information to back it up. The truth doesn’t matter, it’s the message that matters. Communication. Not only what you say but how and where you say it.
The government is not going to save us now, just as the system we’ve burned down to get to where we are, previously, was at its core interested in protecting itself.
If we want a future world that values facts, reason, stability, opportunity, openness, we’re going to have to build it ourselves. I know that there are a lot of us out there, living quietly and patiently, hoping our time will again come, but without effort, our new reality will be one ruled by few and governed through ruthless efficiency — the same tools which have rendered vast industries, and now entire government agencies, no longer relevant — in order to accomplish the desires of few.
Zuckerberg and Altman are building their underground bunkers for a reason, and they’re not going to invite us over for tea.
What I’m seeing now is people choosing sides. It’s human nature to want to win. None of us liberals thought Trump, the guy who tried to burn down the Capital when he didn’t get his way, had a real shot at winning back the White House, but we failed to understand human nature. Facts, niceties, vibes don’t matter when the wolf is at your door and he’s hungry. In a world where it’s every man for themselves, your only real shot is having an army, figuratively or literally, on your side.
This is why I’m writing every day. This is why I’m pushing through the hard times using the best skills I have. The only way out is through.
-Clayton
PS- this entire post came out of me because I was going to share an example of Ai being used to create a comic, which I thought was nice. 😅
2024 04 01
Birds on the line, tweeting or something. Somewhere in northern Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
After watching a few more episodes of the video I mentioned yesterday, it’s remarkable how efficiently word travels these days through social media. Ed was lining up free places to stay, free pints of beer, clothing, meals, while his poor old kayak buddy was left to fend for himself, without social media on his side. There’s some sort of lesson in there but I’m not exactly sure what it is.
-Clayton
2025 03 31
Illinois and Michigan Canal. Lockport, Illinois. June, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
It’s the final day of March, so we’re roughly a quarter of the way through the year already, which is quite wild. That news has me in rather poor spirits as, while I’ve been keeping myself very busy with my own endless list of projects, the meat and potatoes work that pays the bills has been slow and I’ve yet to win a proper large commercial production. This in itself is not out of the ordinary, however, I’m extra sensitive these days with the studio overhead piling every higher and the growing sense of an economic slowdown on the horizon.
The industry talk I lead last week was both remarkably reassuring to hear such kind words and compliments towards my photography, and terrifying in that most everyone else is dealing with today’s challenging economic realities. Ho hum.
On a brighter note, I stumbled upon the video below and it gave me a much-needed spark of joy. I love the weird journeys us humans become obsessed with and this is both entertaining and educational. My brain always wonders about and imagines what grand rivers are like at their place of origin and this video thoroughly explores the River Thames in all of its glory, which is cool.
As I find myself pivoting back towards becoming an artist and personality that relies on my own vision and content to survive, starting that long-pondered youtube channel really seems like it will be in my near future.
-Clayton
2025 03 27
Old Main Street is New Main Street. Canton, Illinois. March, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
I did a presentation today for APA Chicago with the theme being personal work. One of the things I discussed was my Ill Wandering work. It’s not work that I’ve spent much time assessing myself yet, as I’ve been more focused on allowing things to play out a bit more organically without forcing anything and focusing too much on any specific theme. That said, it was very much worthwhile to take a step back and further assess the photos I do have.
I’ll share more in the coming months and hope to get back out a bit more regularly this year to expand the body into something more substantial.
-Clayton