2025 10 21
Cool tree, bro. Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Oftentimes, I’ll make friends with a tree and visit and photograph it regularly. This is my new bud, which I esp love because of its wily bark trunk.
-Clayton
2025 10 10
The Next Picture Show. Dixon, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
This year, I had an idea for a photo project I really wanted to attempt. Sadly, if never came together mostly due to me not having any time to dedicate to it.
There’s always next year, so they say.
-Clayton
2025 10 07
House. Dead End. Lake. Ashland, Wisconsin. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
The north is calling me. Next year, I may explore beginning a new photography project up in northern Wisconsin and Michigan. After some brief shooting this year and a previous trip a few years prior, I was reminded by how much I’m drawn to this area. It’s perhaps me getting old. After spending my 20s and 30s mostly heading south to exotic foreign lands, a bit of domestic oddity sounds quite appealing.
-Clayton
2025 10 06
No outlet. Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
This new Casey Neistat video is more or less what’s been playing in my head for the last year or so. Still worth a watch as it’s quite funny.
Last week I unfollowed a photographer artificial intelligence influencer on LinkedIn because all she posts about is leveraging ai for commercial use. I’m just so over it. You can find me at the book shop.
-Clayton
2025 10 05
Heading south? Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
It’s finally time for fall, maybe?
-Clayton
2025 10 03
Art For Sale! Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
As someone who has avoiding marketing at all costs for the entirety of his commercial photography career, I can tell you with ease that I hate it. The only way I’ve done it in the past is by somehow tricking myself into enjoying it (doing blogs, doing affordable headshots, opening a studio, yada yada). These are not really solutions but, in practice, new jobs that don’t efficiently help with marketing my core offerings. I know all this, yet persist. I still have a long way to go, but at least I’m finally acknowledging the problem and starting to make an effort.
This year, my two biggest areas of focus, broadly speaking, have been:
1) Changing my tendency to want to do everything alone. I need people if I’m ever going to succeed at scale (scale being relative here; I’m not looking to sell a startup or IPO).
2) Communication. Nobody will ever know the cool things I’m doing if I don’t tell or show them (duh!?)
This video below popped into my feed and was a really thoughtful and clear summary of what’s been on my mind a lot lately (also, his vibe is like the opposite of most influencer types, which is incredibly refreshing in itself). If you’re like me and loathe selling yourself as an artist, as a business, as a human, I’d give it a watch and maybe you can find some worthwhile tidbits as I did myself.
-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 09 26
Solo cloud. Somewhere west of Chicago, Illinois. August, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
In designing my new zine project, I wanted the size to be Goldilocks; not too large but also not too small. I like the idea of letting the images shine on their own, and printing too small can remove some of the magic, in my opinion. That said, going bigger gets expensive and becomes a hassle to ship and handle. I settled on 8” x 10” vertical layout, despite the fact that I would’ve preferred a less wide (ie: an even smaller) form. The two factors that led me to compromise, in a sense, were: a) I much prefer horizontal images and get triggered by how much I’m almost forced to shoot vertical these days because of the cell phone. The winder aspect ratio allows for more room for horizontal images; and b) the added room on the page allows for some creativity in layout design. While the aim is to keep things relatively simple, I love the fact that zines are lower stakes productions and you can have a bit more fun with them. My goal is to partner with designers on future issues and explore more possibilities.
This image will likely get printed in a future zine. Be on the lookout for it in the year 2027. Seriously though, the “visual journal” zines I will be producing will be running a few years behind when I actually made the images. They gotta cook, slow!
You can pre-order my first zine drop and snag a free (8x10) print in the precess here.
-Clayton
2025 09 24
Another day, another Happy Barn. Kingdom, Illinois. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Prevously, see: 2025 06 16
-Clayton
2025 09 11
Bay Theater. Ashland, Wisconsin. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Seeking Stephen Shore. Didn’t find him, but got the book.
-Clayton
2025 09 03
Playing music alone in the park. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
As I learn to navigate being an artist, I think it’s vital to manage your voice. What are you saying, both literally and visually through your work. To be candid, this is not something I’m good at. I’m not even sure it’s something I want to be good at. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle that has been keeping me relegated to an artistic tradesperson.
I was reminded this week that the things you say and do are interpreted differently by every single person digesting them. Perhaps it’s an ego thing, but I often forget this and speak as though we’re all on the same page. We’re all in on the same knowledge and have the same perspectives, when clearly the exact opposite is true.
I think one of the amazing things about art is that is unifies and bridges gaps between everyone’s unique perspectives. This is not a profound statement by any means, and perhaps I should’ve been writing this a few decades ago as a student, but I mean it merely as a reminder to myself. Focus more on what I want to say through my work, and less on posting stuff just because: it’s pretty; I’m supposed to; to feed the algorithm; to remind people I exist.
We all can play music alone in the park, but those of us playing with purpose will find the audience they are seeking.
-Clayton
2025 09 02
RIP Don’t Fret. Chicago, Illinois. July, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
Have I mentioned I run a photobook shop now? www.realmbooks.co
I’m busy adding a dozen or more new titles to the website over the next few days. Check it out, and buy a book maybe?! All the money we make on books, for the foreseeable future, goes to purchasing more books. It’s just smart business. See you on Shark Tank!
-Clayton
