2026 01 06: Creative Resolution
Sure it’s a street photo, but is it impactful? Chicago, Illinois. November, 2025. © Clayton Hauck
My Creative Resolution for 2026
Last year I was planning to make a big pivot both to making motion work and hitting the streets once again as a photographer (see: 2025 01 06). The thinking was, by putting myself into the city and regularly making work wherever the roads and trains took me, I’d be influenced and inspired while simultaneously building a new body of work and getting my name out there. As it happened, I failed at both. This is not to say I didn’t have a successful year from a creative perspective, however, the specific goals I’d set for myself were not met. When I stop to think why this was the case, I think it was largely because I got distracted with life events and ultimately the reason for picking these tasks was misaligned with the reality of how to best achieve my bigger career goals.
This year, the pivot to video is less of a priority; although realistically it would be the most impactful thing I could do from a business perspective, which is largely why I choose it last year. Instead of focusing on what makes money, I’ve been focusing on what makes me happy. This trend will continue into 2026 as I continue my lessons learned from things like this here blog. From the start, the goal was never to put up bangers and attract clients through posting my snapshots and spilling my thoughts onto the internet; instead, it was in seeking a shift in mindset towards a more artistic and fulfiling (for me) approach.
As I have taken on way more than I can realistically handle, my resolution for this year is a simple one: better delegation of time and more focus on quality over quantity. I’ve made great strides in finding a new approach to image making that brings me joy; it’s now time to fine tune things so that I can more impactfully engage with others through my work. The best way to do this is through creating art that resonates with others. Quality work! Impactful work. Emotive work. I need to elevate my product and make the stronger images that I’m capable of making, with the styles and aesthetics that I’m personally drawn to. If my job is to make pictures for myself, it’s still a job at the end of the day and money is a necessary aspect of living in our society.
In the new year, I’ll be putting my energies towards both publicizing my own photography through two more zine projects, while also continuing to (attempt) to sell prints. The monetary expectations in this are as modest as can be (breakeven is realistic), but the mere act of doing it is helping me grow and learn. Going out and capturing images with more intention will hopefully help lead to bigger and better opportunities. Continuing to improve how I sell myself as an artist will be crucially important, as much as I resist doing so.
All that said, there needs to be room for exploration and play; hopefully I can finally make good on last year’s resolution, by hitting the streets more regularly this year, as I attempt to make the kind of images that have really given me inspiration of late.
-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.
