2026 06 22
Let’s spend some brainpower thinking through a modified approach to one of my businesses, shall we? My studio space, See You Soon at the Kimball Arts Center, is still very much finding its identity even after four years of existence. What I imagined the space to be did not really pan out. In some ways the differences have been better and in other ways far more challenging than anticipated. The reasons are many, and the control I have over the reasons span the entire spectrum, from totally my fault to didn’t see it coming from a mile away. Today, let’s focus on things I can control, specifically: what is See You Soon?
See You Soon Originally was:
A commercial photo studio
Clayton Hauck’s space to do stuff and try things
A rental photo studio
Through the years, new identities have come and gone. Broadly speaking, the space has organically shifted more towards being an event space than it is a photo studio, both for reasons of necessity (financial) and due to where I’ve chosen to focus my energies. While the future existence of See You Soon is currently in limbo, I think it’s quite valuable to give it my best effort as we steadily move towards the completion of our initial five-year lease, even if we don’t end up renewing (for the record, my goal is not to close, however, I’ve come to the point where that outcome will not bother me should it happen. Additional time to do things like photograph Michigan’s Upper Peninsula sounds very appealing to me).
See You Soon Now:
An event space, primarily focused on visual arts and photography
An outlet for Chicago’s creative community
A place for creative people to come together
So, how do we make this new identity work?
2026 04 15
As I get more into printing and doing photo shows myself, I often think of this guy who does a lot of really cool stuff here in Chicago. If you’re not already familiar, you should check out his shop All-Star Press… and then give the humble lil shop I’ve set up a peek. The second link isn’t my own art (although I do have 2 photos available in there!), but it’s the building my studio is situated in and I’m doing all of the printing and much of the web stuff involved. Down the line, I hope to also set up a print shop of sorts on the Realm site, as well, to compliment all of the books and shows we are doing. Too many projects!!
2026 04 14
Another zine outtake. This one I liked due to the coincidence in complimentary colors. Ultimately, it’s not a great image, as much as I wanted it to be. Maybe if Tom was pissed off and less camera aware, it would give it enough ironic juxtaposition to make it work on its own.
2026 04 09
Another outtake from my upcoming zine (now on preorder!). I still quite like this shot of Sean, one of the ever-changing cast of faces I’ve met through the years while based out of the Kimball Arts Center. The building has changed and is changing in ways which seemingly parallel my own career evolution. I won’t get into all that here today, however, to sum it up: commerce outcompetes art. That said, I’ve been really enjoying doing my own photography lately and (currently) very motivated to find a way to make it work financially, as well. Time will tell if I can crack it.
2026 02 05: Blog/Life Focus
Yesterday, my mother-in-law asked me if the studio has had many bookings lately. Much like the nonstop madness of US and world events, which blurs reality itself, my life has been far too packed with stuff lately. The week-long play I’d hosted in my space, which was directed by Kevin Coval who she also knows, didn’t even come to mind. It both somehow feels like years ago and has already been shoved towards the back of my brain’s usable memory.
This is bad!
I need to slow the fuck down and do some more reflection and documentation (see: promotion) of my own life. When I’m not even remembering the things I’m doing, how can anyone else have a chance of knowing what I’m up to? My challenge is always in figuring out how to best “promote” myself. It never feels right to me (have you subscribed to my new substack?!). We’ll continue to work on it.
Lastly, I aim to tweak the focus of this here blog a bit moving forward. My aim is to keep the images more timely; so either images made within the last month or so, or images made in the same season from previous years. Also, I’d like to bring more humanity to the images. Too much of what I’m posting is stuff. I like the stuff, but I think it’s hard to get anyone’s attention posting only photos of trash on the lawn and cigarettes on the cement.
2026 01 27
Currently, the photo studio that I opened four years ago is undergoing a transformation of sorts. While photo will always be a part of my life, when it comes to the studio, my current aim is to pivot quite dramatically away from photo and towards events. I’m in the process of sorting out the boring-but-necessary backend stuff (namely: insurance). Once I get that figured out, I’m excited to make a push and get focused on seeing results for my efforts. While I’ve always loved the space, it’s never had much of a focus; we’ll aim to change that. Our lease expires in one year, so it’s sort of make-or-break now-or-never time. Hit me up if you need a room for a birthday party!
2026 01 07: Keep it 100
In attempting to make good on one of my year-end resolutions (see: 2025 12 30), I’ve got my “Keep it 100” portraits sessions on offer from January 8-13. Since I opened up bookings so last minute, I’m going to have a very hard time of getting people to sign up, which will likely spiral me back into a pessimistic outlook on the whole thing. Ho hum. If you want to book a session, you can do so here; and if you use the code KEEP-IT-100, you’ll unlock the insanely low price of $100 for an individual session.