2025 12 29

Mc Lovin’ it! Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

(Not) Becoming a Top Commercial Food & Beverage Photographer 2026
For last year’s post about becoming a busy food & beverage photographer this year, please see: 2024 12 29

This resolution was a complete and utter failure in every way imaginable. While my commercial photography career was slow this year generally, the food and beverage projects were non-existent. There was one week that sort of broke me where I lost four commercial bids and two studio bookings in five days, half of which were for beverage projects. On top of this bummer news, my normal hospitality projects have slowed to a trickle in 2025. The restaurant groups that previously kept me busy in my downtime can no longer afford to hire me at all, and none of the new spots opening are hitting me up either. Of course, I’m not helping my case by seeking new clients — mostly because I’m convinced none of them have the money to make it work. Perhaps I’m being too pessimistic, or perhaps I see the writing on the wall, but I’ve consistently made the decision to pivot away from this line of work towards other things.

All this is a bummer, because I really do love photographing food and drinks and had dreams & visions of making cookbooks a primary focus of mine in the studio that I built out to support such projects. One bright spot is that there’s another photographer (Dave Rentauskas, previously a people photographer) who is using the space regularly to photograph food (while I myself, the food photographer, goes out and looks to photograph people). Sometimes things happen in ways you can’t expect. I’m not fully giving up on getting back into this line of work, but I’m also not actively seeking it, either. Once the dust settles on where ai is heading as it relates to commercial photography, perhaps I will re-assess. Until then, I’m enjoying restaurants from a customer’s perspective.

-Clayton

This is one entry in a multi-part series of self-exploration and contemplation-out-loud in advance of the new calendar year. Some of this may happen; none of this may happen.
For the complete list of Year-End Contemplation posts from 2025, please see: 2025 12 25.
For the complete list of Year-End Contemplation posts from 2024, please see: 2024 12 25.

2025 02 18

Have you had your ad break today? Chicago, Illinois. January, 2025. © Clayton Hauck

I’m doing a lot of thinking and researching into video lately as I re-shape my approach to photography back towards motion-first. As always, doing the work and putting in the reps are vastly more important than anything you will learn sitting comfortably on the couch, however, I must say I am a bit humbled by the sheer level of quality being displayed by some young youtube video creators these days. The quality of work being made by one person in a bedroom is now equal to what a team of specialists would be called in for not long ago. Time, of course, is still the required x-factor, but Ai will continue to put a dent into that part of the equation as well.

The video below by Gawx is both a fourteen-minute long ad for laptops and a beautiful video about art and creation. It is both infuriating and mesmerizing. It is both an example of what I should be focusing my own career towards and everything I hate about what I do. It’s complicated, impressive, and seemingly has broken my brain.

What I keep thinking about is my own career path.

When I began in this business, all the of content was made by a few old men with large support structures (filled with both full-time staff and freelance help) doing most of the work. These men owned buildings and got wildly rich. The barriers to entry were as tall as skyscrapers. I witnessed and participated in the very tail end of this era, working as an editor/assistant/webmaster/casting aide/etc before putting in my resignation and going out on my own with a new digital camera in hand. It was clear this model was dying and I would myself become a part of what killed it.

The new era which shaped me was filled with a larger number of younger men and women doing more of the work ourselves and keeping far less overhead. Nobody owned buildings, budgets were more modest but still robust, and freelancers were used anytime more help was needed on larger productions. Realistically, this era ended with Covid and we are now firmly in a new era, which people like myself are still a bit behind in understanding.

The current era is filled with millions of people, of all ages, all over the world motivated to make good work and fueled by a boom in affordable tools to do so. Cameras and lighting were once a barrier to entry but are now more of a bump in the road. Anything you want to make can be done with time and some youtube tutorials. It’s both amazing and terrifying, as the structures that were once in place to regulate prices and standards have crumbled like a sand castle at high tide. Making a living in this era will largely be tied to how large and dedicated your personal audience is and far less by how good you are at lighting or camera operating (this stuff helps but without an audience, you’re just one of thousands of people capable of doing it). To get an audience, you need a voice. A unique angle. Consistency. You need to be interesting and authentic. Say wild things, be provocative. Grab them by the pussy and be put in charge of the nation.

I’m still digesting all of this myself and figuring out where I stand in this landscape. At the end of the day, I know making things is what brings me joy and makes me happy, gives me purpose. I could do it for thousands of dollars or I could do it for free and be just as happy (shoutout to my agent). This is my edge but it’s no longer all you need to make it all work. You need a voice. You need to communicate clearly and gain an audience. You need a … blog?

-Clayton

2025 02 01

Discarded dopamine value meal. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Have you had your (twenty-fourth) dopamine fix yet today?

Scott went hard on this one. Always worth reading but this one should be mandatory for everyone.

Today’s reading: Addiction Economy by future president Scott Galloway

-Clayton