2024 04 18

Dark but sunlit kitchen scene. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Once again, thanks to the modern miracle of air travel, I am back home in my own bed after spending the day down south in Atlanta. For lunch, I had a fried chicken sandwich (because the server told me I’m in the south when I ordered it grilled. Fair enough, boss) and for dinner I had a burrito at Lonesome Rose in Logan Square. I know this is of no interest to anybody reading this, however, I bring it in an attempt to set up to set up a vibe.

Picture this: your plane lands on time. You’re the first one off the plane for the first time in your life (thanks to the Comfort+ on Delta exit row seat). You traveled super light with just a backpack and small camera bag so you high tail it to the people mover (did you now Delta flies out of the international terminal at OHare?), which automatedly takes you to the main terminal where you go downstairs to make your way to the underground CTA blue line stop. The moving walkways briskly move you towards the turnstyle where you tap your phone to gain access, move downstairs to the waiting train, board, then almost immediately hear the chime signaling the doors are about to close. You text your girflriend that you’re on your way home and see if she wants to meet you for dinner at the tex mex spot. She agrees and asks when so you check google maps and it says you’re 15 minutes away. Next thing you know, you’re at the bar, margarita in hand.

I say all this in an attempt to describe a feeling I get when on the move, riding trains, planes and public transit. When shit is working, and you’re moving faster than the endless line of cars stuck on the highway in construction, and the sun is set but things are still bright and alive, it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. The hustle and bustle of being on the move with a destination and things to do. Even if it’s just a margarita with dinner.

Then, when the subject of The Line (Saudi Arabia’s crazy project which I never expected to actually happen) comes up, for the first time I understood what they had in mind when they proposed this thing. Maybe it is the future of cities, after all.

I’m likely not making much sense to anybody reading this, so off to bed I go.

-Clayton

2024 04 17

How’s my driving? Not great! Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Arriving late to my airport-adjacent hotel on a quick work trip, I glance at my phone to see if any food options are still available. Everything closes soon. Luckily, there’s a decently-rated basic grill in the hotel next to mine so I drop my stuff and walk towards it. The parking lots are massive and dark. The hotel looms over the dark horizon but as I get closer it becomes apparent that the entire perimeter of the hotel property I am currently on is fenced in with no pedestrian access. I’m in one of these areas designed fully for car access only.

Instead of giving up and backtracking to go all the way around the complex, I mumble “fuck cars” to myself while scanning the area for any sort of evidence of human foot-based activity. One area back near the dumpsters in the corner is a bit more worn out that the rest with a small gap in between the mature evergreen trees, so I psych myself up to make it happen. As I’m cresting the jagged steel fence, I have a quick vision of catching my foot and falling headfirst into the parking lot cement and needing to come up with some kind of cover story when I meet with the client the following morning because there is no possible way to make this sound not insane should it go wrong.

Luckily, I make it across with only a small cut on my hand, evidence to show the server if the situation calls for a little desperate pleading to get the kitchen to stay open for one last order. Now that the right building is immediately in front of me, the next problem becomes apparent. While, yes, the grill I’m seeking is right on the other side of the wall, I’m now standing in the back lot of the next hotel complex with, again, zero pedestrian access aside from a few emergency only escape doors which I can’t enter. I have a some more thoughts about how much I hate cities designed fully to accomodate cars as I walk all the way around the building and inside, my journey now complete.

They’re still serving, although the menu is limited to four items. I order the house burger and think about how old we are getting as I watch Lebron James’ Lakers win a play in game and a consistent stream of people wander in looking for food themselves, most holding airline vouchers that seem to be as valuable as cash in these parts.

Now, I’m back on my hotel bed reviewing casting callbacks while typing out this monotonous story-of-my-night without any sort of lesson, purpose, or deeper meaning. Let’s land the plane, Clayton!

When airplanes aren’t falling apart mid-flight, modern air travel is a remarkable human achievement. Merely a few hours ago, I was back home in Chicago meeting with a rabbi about our upcoming wedding ceremony and now I’m hopping a fence in search of a cheeseburger in a city 700 miles away, while the most interesting thing in my afternoon wasn’t browsing the internet 35,000 feet in the sky, or riding the automated airport train, or moving through mid air at 580 miles per hour.

The most interesting thing was, upon leaving to walk back to my hotel, again getting stuck in this new hotel’s parking lot only to run into a security guard who told me the only way to exit on foot is in the exact opposite direction I needed to go. Fucking cars! Seeing my frustration, he asked where I was headed, to which I pointed up at the building right across the alley from where we were. He told me to go back into the hotel, cut down a hallway, and go through the doors marked Employees Only, then out the back exit. I’m not usually one to disobey the honor system no access warnings but given permission by the parking lot security guard, this was my ticket to adventure! Thanks Sonesta Atlanta Airport North for a solid burger, back-stage access, and a shortcut which saved me 6 minutes of walking which I could then sink into writing this remarkable retelling.

-Clayton

2024 04 16

Super neat art piece by E Lee as part of his solo show at All Star Press in Chicago. November, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

Art, it’s neat!

I had a weekend full of art and have been spending a lot of time pondering the fine art marketplace. Recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have been drawn to commercial photography largely because things are more defined and transactional. I have something a company wants and they pay me a set price to deliver it. It’s relatively straightforward. The fine art world, however, has always been a mysterious and intimidating place to me. Nobody is to say I can’t make a photo of a pile of hot dogs and offer it for sale for $950,000, as was the asking price for a painting of a pile of hot dogs at Expo over the weekend. An insane asking price is part of the appeal and part of art’s value, I suppose. Artist E Lee, I’m sure, has some fascinating viewpoints on art as it relates to commerce considering he features currency in much of his work. This is something I should explore in a future blog post. For now, I offer this quick open-ended pondering as a reminder to myself that it’s worth additional consideration.

-Clayton

2024 04 15

Illuminated window on a winter night. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

Well, well. Happy tax day. Having jammed my weekend full of plans (hosted multiple events at the studio while vastly misjudging the time involved), I find myself scrambling to get my tax payment in the mail so it can be postmarked on time, while scrambling to get a blog post up without having one ready to go in the morning for the first time, while scrambling to clean up the studio and do laundry and get the house in order and kick on the air conditioning for the first time, all before departing town tomorrow afternoon for a quick work trip. Yes, spring has sprung and things are moving.

Let’s see if I can’t get some more blog posts in the pipeline and keep this streak going for a while longer. Would hate to end it on such an uneventful note.

-Clayton

2024 04 14

Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

It’s smart to take a nice long look at yourself in the mirror every once in a while, America.

More on this another day, maybe.

-Clayton

2024 04 13

Bare tree in winter as seen through the glass roof of my car. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

You ever hear something that just sticks with you for whatever reason? A while back I was either watching a youtube video or reading a twitter thread, I don’t remember, from a guy who spends a lot of time sleeping outside in various places while doing his best to avoid trouble from sketchy situations, the law, etc. It was a really interesting and detailed account filled with tips and tricks about how he gets by living off the land. I promptly forgot every detail except one little nugget, which is that he often sleeps up in trees. His reasoning is what really stuck with he: nobody bothers to look up.

I fancy myself quite observant, however, after reading this detail I’ve found myself glancing upward approximately 50% more frequently, often expecting to see someone camped out in a tree high above, just living their life without a care in the world. One day…

-Clayton

2024 04 12

Warlord, one of Chicago’s best new restaurants, just featured in the New Yahk Times. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

Look, I don’t have time to write a banger post each and every day like yesterday’s was so some days I’m just going to post some self-promotional bullshit, like today!

My email box alerted me to a new New York Times feature covering “Chicago’s 25 Best Restaurants” using my photo in the emailer with my name in the byline. I mean, c’mon, it’s exciting!

This was my first visit to said restaurant and I snapped a few images on my trusty Ricoh, this one included. I’m a reluctant social media user, however, have been trying to be better about tagging people on IG lately. I tagged Warlord in this shot and they hit me back, asking me to email them so they could show their mom. Cute! Fast forward to Chicago hitting me up to do some photos and having the existing communication really helped along the process and led to some amazing images for a different Best New Restaurants feature. Then, this NYT feature happened. Next, surely Joe B(iden) will call asking if I can get him in. That’s how this shit works.

Anyway, shoutout to Yoder for lining up at 3pm or whatever to get us in.

Now I’m hungry.

-Clayton

2024 04 11

Totality is approaching, but will he capture it? Vincennes, Indiana on the state line with Illinois over the Wabash River. April 8, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

When living in the moment and anything to get the shot conflict, things can get complicated.

Having just returned from experiencing the first and possibly only total solar eclipse of my lifetime, I’m sitting on my couch consuming everyone’s eclipse content and finding myself regretting the whole living in the moment mantra I was doing my best to practice during my time spent directly in the path of totality down in Vincennes, Indiana. I am a photographer, afterall, so getting the shot is kind of my thing. Yes, I did still make dozens of photos and thoroughly enjoyed every moment during what is maybe nature’s most amazing show. However, suppressing my urge to strictly focus on capturing the moment in favor of being present in the moment and experiencing it through my own eyes (I even had a 200mm lens and tripod with me but left it in the car!) is something that is harder to justify the next day when you’re looking at everyone’s amazing eclipse captures and comparing them to the lackluster results you made only after the natural impulse to document took over midway through (because it was so amazing I felt like I just had to make some photos!). Instead of doing one or the other, I ended up attempting to do both, which doesn’t really work when you only have four minutes. Sure, I’ll always have the memories seared into my brain, but perhaps this is why people like myself are driven to create beautiful images in the first place — it’s a sort of visual evidence that these moments did in fact happen and you’re not simply fabricating them in your mind.

For me, yesterday was a vivid reminder that everyone experiences things from their own perspective and it’s best practice to live life in a way that best compliments your own viewpoints and impulses.

All that said, the moments that will stay with me forever are ones that can’t be captured on any camera because they require your internal vision and past experiences to fully appreciate: the friends and loved ones around you and their emotions being displayed; the roar of the crowd gathered in the park as totality took over and again as the sun emerged from behind the moon; the visible lights miles off in the distance that your brain knows you are only seeing because it’s now nighttime over there but isn’t, yet, where you are; the quality of light and the vibe that is surrounding you in 360-degrees as day turns to night and then back to day again, which one static image will just translate as a mostly ordinary sunset; the feeling of the scale of things, how you are both incomprehensibly small yet a part of something so grand and impossible to understand; when the skies turn dark and another planet is immediately and unexpectedly visible in the same sky you’d just been staring at for the past two hours, and then somebody mentions there is a comet that is also visible with the right optics in your same field of view—how layers upon layers of things exist and are only visible at the right time, with the right equipment, and the right tuning. Even in the void of space things are seemingly plentiful.

Almost as spectacular as the eclipse was the surreal feeling after it ended. Within an hour, even before the moon had finished transiting the sun, which by now was ordinary by comparison to totality, everyone had packed up a left town. The balloons were deflated, the band gone, the food carts moved off, the swarms of people and overflowing collection of cars nowhere to be seen. We stopped into a pizza spot to grab a bite to eat on the main street of this now mostly re-abandoned town and immediately encountered a woman angry about her reservation getting lost and having to wait for a table — the look on her face is one I will never forget when juxtaposed alongside the amazing life event I had just experienced. Was she not also there?! Did she not see what I’d just seen? How could you be so upset in this moment?

In our modern world of endless distractions and forms of entertainment, my thoughts turned to how this day might’ve be different a century ago when nobody had things to get back to so quickly. Maybe we’d hang out and talk to each other about what we’d just travelled to witness, instead of racing home to edit our content and put it out into the internet for a million strangers to hopefully notice. These physical places, town centers across the mostly forgotten Midwest, once the social medias of another time, are now mostly empty collections of run-down-yet-beautiful houses and more stray cats than human beings.

Driving home among a mass caravan heading back towards the big city, we talked about an acquaintance who avoids eclipses as part of her culture. Maybe it’s a long-forged human self-defense mechanism used to avoid the regret of not taking away from these magical moments any sort of wisdoms it deserves or great photographs to post on your social media for likes and follows. The pressure put upon a moment in time which you have absolutely no control over is quite dramatic. Sorry it rained on the day you had your only chance at experiencing God. Guess it wasn’t in the cards this lifetime. [update: last night I repeatedly dreamed that sunlight was now different that it was before the eclipse. It’s hard for the brain not to interpret such a colossal event as a sign that something far bigger and perhaps more dangerous has just taken place!]

In the end, I didn’t get the shot but I did get quite alright two-for-one buffalo wings, an experience I will never forget, and a nice reminder about how seeing the world from your perspective is all that we know, and making sure your perspective is a good one is the only thing we can kinda sorta control, if you put the effort into it.

One day we all look up at the same thing and everyone experiences it differently. 

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” - Anaïs Nin

-Clayton

PS - anyone want to go to Iceland or Egypt for the next few total solar eclipse viewings? I’ll bring the good lens this time!

2024 04 10

Allison Ziemba in our backyard. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Today is the birthday of my favorite person, my partner, my soon-to-be wife, Allison! it is your birthday. Hope it’s a good one!

Love you so much!

-Clayton

2024 04 09

Chef Christian Hunter of Atelier photographed for Chicago Magazine (and used as the cover image!). Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

After roughly twenty years in the business, it’s rare I get to photograph a magazine cover (partly because magazines don’t really exist anymore) so it was an honor when my semi-regular client Chicago allowed me to do a cover shoot. My photography style tends to be a bit more gritty, dark, and authentic (agency buzz word alert!…are you listening, SEO?), which doesn’t always fit well in the glossy world of heavily-retouched magazine rack images. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

This image was made as part of a Best New Restaurants feature, which was a blast to be a part of and resulted in some great images.

While I’m still sort of feeling out what this particular website even is, I’m shying away from making it another commercial photography portfolio, so even sharing editorial images like this one doesn’t feel completely right. But we’ll see!

On the topic of myself, one other idea I had was to do a series on Instagram reels going into a bit more detail on how I made specific images. Tips, tricks, and observations. That sort of thing. Is this something people want or am I merely stroking my ego and hunting for social engagement? I don’t know! Sorting out how to exist within the current digital media landscape is endlessly confusing and largely frustrating. I guess at the end of the day you should just do things that feel right to you and not like a blatant grab for internet fame.

What do you think? Is anyone reading this? Blogging is the future so surely there will soon be tens of dozens of people interested in leaving their opinions in the comment section below.

-Clayton

2024 04 08

Sun behind trees. Grand Detour, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

I’m out today, heading home from my cookbook shoot in Nashville and chasing this total solar eclipse. I’ve never experienced one before so will be sure to report back tomorrow and let y’all know if my life is now forever changed and I have a new perspective on everything. Or maybe I’ll simply never return? We’ll see!

-Clayton

2024 04 07

Palmer Square Park on a foggy winter night. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

This blog is at a serious risk of becoming a place that only reposts Noah Kalina videos, however, per the rules of the blog, if I watch a video I enjoy I need to write about it here. Since Noah is posting videos like every damn day, this space is going to get all cluttered up with hashtag Kalina Content, which honestly might not be a bad thing.

Anyway, enjoy your Sunday, while taking in a few recent videos from Noah’s youtube channel, posted below.

-Clayton

2024 04 06

“Just Desert” (2019) limited edition print from The Camera You Have series. © Clayton Hauck

Self Promotion Clayton is back to let you know about another fun side project I kicked off last year. Art prints! Among my recent efforts to become more thoughtful about my artistic endeavors, I’ve been doing a limited run of really high quality mounted prints made from photos I’ve enjoyed over the years. The general concept of the series is to offer wall-hanging worthy works at affordable prices sourced from spontaneous photos I’ve made, sometimes with my pocket Ricoh camera, sometimes with an iPhone, thus the camera you have being the series’ name which is a saying I’ve always enjoyed (although don’t know the origin of).

This image was made in Phoenix at the Desert Botanical Garden at the very tail end of a trip to Arizona with my sister. The place is beautiful and, while I love desert landscapes generally, Phoenix is not one of my favorite places despite a few redeeming qualities such as the existence of this beautiful place. That said, considering I am a lifelong Chicagoan, it’s highly likely I will one day call Phoenix home since it serves as the unofficial retiring place of most Chicagoans. Until then, it’s just desert.

GIVEAWAY!

Each time I offer a new print from this series, I give away the first one. To enter, you can head to my Instagram account (@claytonhauck) and leave a comment on the post, like the post, or share the post to enter yourself into the drawing. Additionally, you can leave a comment here, below, to also enter yourself into the free giveaway (make sure I know how to contact you!).

Fine print: No purchase necessary. Winner chosen at random roughly seven (7) days after initial offer. Void where prohibited. Clue Heywood will automatically win a print if he somehow sees this post and leaves a comment.

-Clayton

PS - if you want to support the series monetarily, you can always buy one of these prints over on the website or reach out directly to inquire!

2024 04 05

Sunset scene with a skateboarder making use of the popular Slappy Curbs spot outside the Kimball Arts Center. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Sunsets are like a photographer cheat code. It’s easy to make a nice photo with a brilliant sunset. Because of this, sunset photos are cliche and not really something professional photographers like to make photos of, unless they are mentally-healthy mainstream photographers.

One of my best ideas was an app that has one and only one task (aside from gathering emails to monetize): send you a push notification when a pretty sunset is happening near you. I’ll never act on this idea so I will give it to you, dear reader, to act on and become an overnight millionaire.

Yesterday I briefly partook in a “photo walk” now that I am a film photographer and people take me seriously (before sneaking off early and going back to my studio to edit my client’s digital photos which are due before I can leave town and make more digital photos for another project). I spotted a fun scene in an alley and raised my Contax to make a serious film photo. It was subtle, just the way a car’s headlights were bounding off a puddle halfway between us, but just after snapping a frame, I heard an audible sigh from a photo walk participant as he mockingly-proclaimed, “an alley photo!” Just as instant shame set in, but before I even had a chance to turn around and awkwardly defend myself, but annoyingly just after I made the image, a massive airliner dramatically emerged from the overcast skies perfectly placed in my composition like a phantom sign that I indeed was on to something.

Follow your instincts. Don’t let the haters bring you down. Shoot the pretty sunset if it makes you happy. Shoot more film (and digital to pay for the film).

-Clayton

2024 04 04

Photo of an old car for sale that I would’ve made with a film camera if I’d had one at the time. Grand Detour, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Well, it finally happened. Was it inevitable? No, actually! But I’m (so far) very glad to be back shooting film again.

I’ll admit it, I regret ditching film over a decade ago now. Digital was just so easy, required for every paid job I’ve done, and in most ways better than film. Of course, this is subjective and many people will disagree (myself sometimes included). The one thing film has that digital never will is je ne sais quoi, or rizz as the kids are now calling it (I think?). Sure, you can fake it in post but what’s the fun in that?!

I could probably go way deep on this topic and perhaps soon I will as I start to get some rolls developed, assuming this camera I picked up at an estate sale even works, but for now I’ll keep it brief and proclaim my excitement to be back to film. The camera I purchased (for way too much money) is a Contax T2, which was always a dream camera even though it’s a trendy motherfucker and way overpriced for what it is. I don’t care, though, it’s beautiful (assuming it works)!

The first roll is already rolling to a lab in Cleveland (shoutout Dodd Camera, I’m open for sponsorships!) to get developed. Amazing how this once ubiquitous process is now a specialty service. I will report back soon with some results.

Another observation was how annoyed Allison was upon my return home and excitement with my new (hopefully functional) Contax. She rightfully so gave me shit for my constant negativity towards her anytime she busted out a film camera over the years. Damn. It’s so true and regrettable! Instead of getting excited for her to be shooting film I was secretly jealous of her for using it and had been knocking it as expensive or difficult or whatever as a self defense mechanism. Ugh. I’m sorry, Allison! Let’s go make some pretty film photos together!

Anyway, let’s hope this damn things works or I’ll be back soon to complain about how stupid film photography is.

-Clayton

2024 04 03

A Chicago greystone without immediate neighbors stands among grey cars. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

I’m out of town on assignment, expanding my mind through experience, so today will leave you with a quick quote from a famous American author and, perhaps more noteworthy, the namesake of my middle school in Wheeling, Illinois.

“A mind that is stretched by new experience can never go back to its old dimensions”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

-Clayton

PS - I’m in Nashville. Maybe leave a comment and let me know about that cool secret dive bar nobody knows about, will you?

2024 04 02

Life finds a way. Chicago, Illinois. October, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

I got an email with a job offer the other day. It’s weird because I haven’t applied for a job in at least a few decades, nor do I have a university degree or a CV, while my LinkedIn profile is a mess. Thinking it spam, I went to hit delete, however, was intrigued by the writing in the email. It had a tone I’m not at all familiar with and got me curious to hear further details. After giving the entire short-but-direct message a read, my bullshit detector was activated but not enough to make me go away just yet.

Admittedly, the job sounded easy. It was almost tailor-made for me, which also had me wondering how this person even found me. I went to Google and started digging but no information about the email sender, or his company, was found anywhere online. Again, thinking it spam but still somewhat curious about a potential easy-money gig that would also allow me to maintain the personal freedom of my existing freelancer lifestyle, I crafted a reply to get a bit more information: who is this person, what is this company, how did you find me, why me?

The salary being offered was generous. The task was essentially to be a photographer, as I already am. I would be supplied an ongoing, never-ending, list of things, people, and places, that I would be tasked with photographing and video recording. Quality is somewhat important but not the highest priority. Most importantly, the copyright of all the work I produce would remain with me — no work for hire clause at a full-time position seemed too good to be true, and in hindsight was the tell.

Sidetracked with visions of how this new assignment could completely change my lifestyle for the best, I bypassed consulting with any friends or loved ones experienced with having normal-people jobs unlike myself and instead told the mysterious emailer to send me the contract with a verbal commitment to take the job, while thinking I could quit at any time if it did turn out to be a scam or something weird I hadn’t considered. It was a fully-remote position with paid travel and no office to report to. They have no physical location and he told me he himself was based overseas and I would likely never even meet him in person.

After receiving the contract mere seconds after emailing him the request, I sat on it for a day, then two. Feeling a need to come clean to someone, I called my agent and told her the situation. That I would be mostly unavailable for new commercial assignments for a while and I hope she’d understand but this opportunity was too good to pass up. She is great with legal contracts so offered to read it over for me and agreed with my take that it almost sounded too good to be true; not at all what we’ve been familiar seeing from clients lately who ask for the world on most assignments. Sad to see me go, she did ask one request of me before accepting the position. Even though I woundn’t be working directly with my new boss, she said I should at the very least meet him over a zoom call to catch his vibe and a feel for who I’d be further enriching through beautiful imagery. I agreed, as this sounded very reasonable and smart, so requested the meeting as my last stipulation before signing on to my new job.

The reply came in a bit more delayed than his usual promptness and the tone was a bit concerning. Still, I had visions of Japanese travel and strolls through our national parks in my mind so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Now look, even with my new-found blindness to reality while dreaming the big dream, I’m still a professional photographer, trained on visuals, pouring over them endlessly day and night. Because of this, when the mysterious emailer joined our zoom call, precisely at the time scheduled, my heart sank, pools of sweat developed in my armpits and my face turned red. I’d been had.

AI technology has become very good, very fast, but it’s still not perfect. My future boss who I was now meeting on a video call was not-in-fact human but an artificial intelligence personality. Upon learning I was no longer buying his routine, he calmly (and weirdly) asked me if I was still open to working with him on the assignment while ensuring me the money was real and that he could prove it by send some to my bank account iNsTAntLy! He said he was already working with dozens of great photographers who would become my co-workers, while listing their names in hopes of convincing me. He just needed more content! Get mE the cONteNt! When he mentioned both Ansel Adams and Annie Leibovitz were on staff, I started laughing, which had the terrifying effect of enraging him. Immediately, the previously humanlike face began shifting and deforming into a vile creature while he hurled insults and threats at me. He firmly let me know he’d be directing all of his dark web resources into hacking my computers to gain access to my digital photos and simply take them for freeeee.

…

A few days later, the news reports started to come out. Tech bros had been funding fully autonomous corporations and letting them loose into the economy. Many failed, sure, but some started doing very well, growing their bank accounts into the millions and a few even into the billions. One artificial corporation got so drunk on success it tried to file for an IPO on the NYSE. I was never able to dig up any info on my specific almost-boss, however, there were a bunch of similar companies who had been making lots of money by growing social media accounts and selling merch on various ecommerce sites. The machines apparently figured out that all the imagery they were sourcing from the web was fairly easy to trace or a noticeable tell to prospective buyers, so in order to gain a competitive advantage over the other AI competition, a few of the artificial corporations tried to hire humans to make the imagery for them to give it a more human touch.

This is a true story, written by a human, March 28, 2025.

-Clayton

2024 04 01

Kate Condic stands in as a subject for my Keep it 100 portrait session. While not quite on Kander’s level, I do enjoy this work. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Nadav Kander is a favorite of mine. His series on the Yangtze River (“The smallness of man and the bigness of their ideas”) was super influential and really stuck with me as a young photographer and his portraits to this day are among my favorite from any working photographer. This video (linked below) popped into my feed and included some really nice takeaways. The channel, Graeme Williams - Photographic Conversations, I am also finding very much worthwhile, so recommend taking a look yourself if you want to dig into photography a bit more.

The takeaways I had which I aim to incorporate into a new personal photography project I have brewing involve his method to approaching a series of work:

• “Let the work happen and then find out what it means to me.”

• Use word association in a series project: flat, slow, quiet, dissolving, ending, becoming, insignificant — then use that to help guide the feel and vibe of the photos. This will help you define the images you aim to make.

• Build a scrapbook of paintings, photos and artwork that helps further build the feelings and emotions of the series to help you translate them into images. 

• Composition then colors and tone. Strong composition is most important; “a strong composition communicates as much as literal information.”

• Then translate all these vibes into photographs using your own skills.

Perhaps this is as helpful to you as it was to me.

-Clayton

2024 03 31

A winter stroll through Palmer Square Park. Hazy nights are a photographer’s hall pass. Chicago, Illinois. December, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

It’s Easter Sunday, so I’m off being a good Catholic boy. Shout out to my mom who is my #1 reader and un-paid PR person.

xoxo

-Clayton

PS - I’ll be in Nashville all next week for work. Let’s see if I managed to pre-load enough blog posts before I left town to keep this daily blog rolling.
PPS - if you have any eating or drinking reccos in Nashville (America’s most overrated city!), please let me know (I don’t dislike Nashville, it’s just very much overrated)!

2024 03 30

Artist & designer Craighton Berman in his studio in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood. February, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

It finally happened — I came across AI-generated art that I really like.

That said, the human writing is what makes it stand out, along with an outlandish subject which makes the weirdness of the AI benefit the story instead of detract.

Things are moving fast. Good luck out there, my friends.

-Clayton

'air head' is one of the first short films made using #Sora by @OpenAI.

the response so far has left us floating.🎈 pic.twitter.com/bBR6IMZQ8M

— shy kids (@shykids) March 25, 2024