2026 02 18: Award-Nominated!
I sometimes joke that Iām an āAward-Nominated Photographer.ā Itās a cute dig at the world of Serious Photography, while letting you know that I donāt take myself too seriously. That said, I must admit that Iāve been having a bit of regret the last few days over my lack of engagement throughout my career. Living in my own world has its perks, but you gotta play the game a bit sometimes, too.
Early in my career, I attempted to do what youāre supposed to do. I was faced with rejection and made a decision that you canāt lose if you donāt play. This protected my ego for a time, but now that Iām an aging photographer posting to a blog with an audience thatās primarily Chinese ai-Bots, I gotta wonder if it was the right call. Okay, so thatās a harsh assessment. But in many ways, Iām back where I started in my photography career. Iām now focusing on things I want to focus on and doing things I want to do. This is giving me an opportunity, of sorts, to do things differently this time around. One of the things I aim to do is play the game. Not obsessively ā Iāll never be that guy ā but a little bit. Learn the names; meet the faces; submit to the awards and the grants; attend the shows.
You gotta play the game.
2026 02 02: Making Art Make Cents
Thereās this vague vision Iāve had formulating in my head for a few years now. Itās not fully formed, but I want to start communicating it more to suss out whether Iām on to something of full of it.
Photography has been an āugly stepchildā of the art world for as long as Iāve been a photographer (in part, this is why Iāve largely avoided the art world), but I donāt think it needs to be this way. I continue to think of photography as a wildly under-rated and under-represented form of art. Without getting into why this is or isnāt the case here today, I will instead focus briefly on how we may be able to change this perception a bit.
Do what musicians do (I write this as I passively watch The Grammys)!
Compared to music, photography is a brand spankinā new art form. The idea is not to compete with music, but instead to take a page from how bands and musicians are able to make their practice work and bring some of these ideas over to the world of photography. Much like releasing LPs and EPs, we can and should put out books and zines. While this is not a new idea in any capacity, we could be taking it a step further by touring ā a photographer releases a project and then hits the road; pounds the pavement; communicates to the people directly, in places and spaces not previously familiar. Bring your work to the people. Become a traveling (art) salesman. Everything is sales, after all.
Musicians have had the luxury of mass transmission of their art for for decades now, however, this hasnāt been the case with photography until only recently. The internet and social apps have allowed us lowly photographers to get our work out in front of the world for the first time ever, only recently. You no longer need to be Ansel Adams to have your work seen, you can be Clayton Hauck. Of course, this has created a ton of less desirable side effects in additon to the benefits, but letās focus on the bright side of things, today!
It makes sense to bet on ourselves, as photographers, and help push our art form forward. Nobody is going to do it for us. The corporations who run the apps sure as hell wonāt.