2026 03 19

A visual representation of my life rn. Louisville, Kentucky. January, 2026. © Clayton Hauck

Allow me to vent for a moment, will you?

I woke up today feeling worse than I have in a long time. The previous night I attended a “state of the industry” event and it left me, well, fully demoralized. It seems the corporations are all in on ai being a solution for visual advertising and marketing. While this isn’t really shocking to me (I’m already reconfiguring my life away from being fully dependent on photography), the speed it is happening is quite terrifying. Perhaps there will be a course correction or a backlash against generated imagery, but I’m not very optimistic. In the end, the agencies who are using these tools are realistically just as fucked as us lowly photographers are, if not more so. That we’re all in the same sinking ship is the only thing that keeps me from losing it entirely.

On top of this gloomy job news, our new Iran War appears to be turning into a worst-case scenario situations as both sides are now attacking each others’ massively important energy infrastructure. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but at this point a global recession and covid-style inflation seems almost inevitable. Considering all of my job pivots are reliant on consumer discretionary spending (books, events, art), I’m about as frustrated as can be right now.

Keep on keeping on. It seems to be about all I can do, while hoping for the best.

Good luck out there!

-Clayton

Update: Just had al pastor tacos for lunch and am now feeling measurably better about everything