2025 06 12
Summer storms are the best. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Lately, as I struggle to check all the things off of my daily mental to-do list, Iāve been finding myself walking around the house saying, āOne thing at a time!ā
Really, itās a dozen things at a time, but if I just tell myself one thing at a time, perhaps I will eventually listen?
-Clayton
2025 06 11
Haley and Allison. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Short one today, as I am knee deep in tasks. Taking a moment to appreciate these two lovely people I have in my life. As I get older, it becomes increasingly clear just how necessary it is to have loving and supporting people in your life. Itās something I neglected for years, as I spent far too much time focused on myself and advancing my own interests. Sure, Iām still full of interests and realistically take on more than I can handle, but if it wasnāt for these two, who knows how damaged my brain would be at this point.
-Clayton
2025 06 10
A glance back in time. Pontiac, Illinois. June, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
I was sent this video (below) and told to watch it, after seeing it pop into my feed and deciding not to (I follow Smarter Every Day but am trying my best to cut down on my youtube time lately). Iām glad it did seep into my brain (thanks Dave!). Honestly, the video resonates with me in so many ways Iām not even sure where to begin. Instead, I will only suggest you give it a watch yourself and see what you take away from it (itās entertaining, too!).
The one thing I will relate it to here is my ongoing āIll Wanderingā photo project. While out exploring the state, I encounter so many places that clearly feel lost to time. This idea that America has declined, or at the very least changed beyond recognition, is real for so many people. I wonāt even begin to get into the complexities here, but will say itās something I spend a lot of time pondering and hopefully even more time documenting in the months and years ahead.
Oh! Also, I will be showing a few images from the series, for the first time ever, on June 20th during a photography show at my studioā¦ just need to figure out which ones, which is always the hard part for me.
-Clayton
2025 06 09
Buddy, the dog. Chicago, Illinois. 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
This will not become a dog blog; this will not become a dog blog; this will not become a dog blog.
That said, we have a dog now! Or, at least, we are co-parenting a dog now. Buddy, the dog. Heās the best. Heās a weirdo. And surely I will be making many more photos of the dude. But I promise not to post any of them here. Unless theyāre too good not to, of course.
-Clayton
2025 06 08
Business, man. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Today, Sunday, I was supposed to work but decided to take the day off, still exhausted from the shoot that wrapped the day prior. Making photos for a living has evolved quite dramatically in the twenty-odd years Iāve been doing it. Things move much faster and expectations are far higher, these days.
One quick story Iām reminded of that made me laugh:
My friend, and fellow commercial photographer, decided to capture his sonās prom night through well-lit portraits. He grabbed a bunch of his equipment from the studio, brought it home and set it up, and made a bunch of photos as the kids were getting ready to head out for the night. The kids then expected him to send them the photos immediately, surely so they could post them to social media, as people do. My friend, however, does not work that way. These photos had to first go off to his retoucher for touch-ups and processing before they could be considered finished. A week, maybe two weeks, then you can see the images, kids!
Itās both interesting and depressing to consider how value of images is lost, often immediately, by the inevitable passing of time. Like a new car driving off the lot, the photos you made last night that had everyone so excited, are often forgotten next day.
Last week, I had a stylist email me asking to see images from a campaign we shot a decade ago (!). My first thought was to laugh about how little value those images must have now. It was the largest budget for any production in my entire career, but after ten years, surely all of those images have met their end ā replaced by cheaper images from nicer cameras, right? To my surprise, the stylist emailed back with some screen grabs she pulled off the clientās website, still proudly showing our decade-old images.
-Clayton
2025 06 07
The moon over White Pines Forest State Park, Oregon, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
On Saturday mornings, my routine is to watch my rocket show after waking up. I put on my glasses, stumble downstairs, grab some cold brew and see what sort of wild adventures humans are up to this week. The show is a weekly youtube production by Marcus House which succinctly recaps whatever space exploration news happened during the week. This new hyper-focused DIY sort of media is one of the reasons I continue to be obsessed with youtube and spend far too much time consuming it.
Anyway, if youāre like me and find space exploration fascinating, check out Marcusā channel.
-Clayton
2025 06 06
Beer and a shot. Sportsmanās, Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Friday is for beers (even though Iām posting this on Monday, because I was busy working over the weekend, so treating today as a āworking weekend dayā to allow myself some mental and physical recovery ā that all makes sense, right?).
This photo is special because they handed me this High Life and the label was applied upside-down, which made me feel like I won some kind of Golden Ticket For Alcoholics to tour the Wonka brewery factory.
-Clayton
2025 06 05
Church. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Now that we have a Chicago Pope, Iām thinking of being Catholic again. I think Iāve taken enough photos of this church over the years to be forgiven for my sins.
-Clayton
2025 06 04
I am fashion! Chicago, Illinois. April, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Itās cute to make this declaration in a nondescript storefront off Western Avenue across from the Shell station. But people gotta dream, and I commend them for it! Iāve got a dozen or so dreams cooking up right now myself and surely a few of them feel as silly to others as this one does to me.
Keep dreaminā
-Clayton
2025 06 03
Walking through a bygone era. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Iāll admit it, Iāve been severely slacking on my Creative Resolution this year. Only a few days have I gone out with the Ricoh GRiii to make street photos. Not much to show for it, however, I do aim to work the camera into a commercial project later this week, which is a fun development as far as my camera equipment goes.
One ongoing realization Iāve had recently is that I already have a ridiculous amount of photos. It would probably be beneficial to spend more time publicizing my existing work and less time making new work. Alas, the act of photographing is far more enjoyable.
-Clayton
2025 06 02
Boys, on the move. Bucktown, Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025 Ā© Clayton Hauck
Another image that has been nearly deleted a dozen times, but stuck around because it has a lil something I like. The something, I think, is a distinct feeling of early summer in Chicago. The weather has turned and things are happening; people are on the move. Plus, I just love the older buildings in the older neighborhoods of the city, like this one.
-Clayton
2025 06 01
Donāt Fret art. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
While Donāt Fret is no longer with us, he will live on, through his art and through his spirit, for some time.
We were in early production on a documentary about his life. While this project has been derailed, it will eventually be turned into something worthwhile. More on this another day. More on all of this, in fact, another day, as I surely have quite a lot more thoughts to share once I both find the time to share them and fully process the realities.
Until then, donāt fret.
-Clayton
PS- thank you to all who attended and helped plan the lovely memorial service
2025 05 30
A spring scene. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Something about this snap speaks to meā¦ I love the transitional times of year, when time shows its hand and nature leaves its mark. Soon the yard will get tidied up, fresh mulch will be laid and flowers will come and go, just in time time for earthās rotation to once again shift and coldness to take hold again.
-Clayton
2025 05 29
Another Busted Car. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
It feels like an appropriate day for another Busted Car. While making this image on my walk home from work, a woman came out of her house and asked, clearly suspicious of my actions, āWhy are you taking a photo of the car?ā
āArt.ā I replied, as I walked off into the sunset.
-Clayton
2025 05 27
Checking in on myself. Self portrait, Chicago, Illinois. January, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
If youāre like me (a US-based commercial photographer with decades of experience in the industry), chances are youāre experiencing the same issues Iām struggling to navigate: less projects to bid on; unrealistic-to-impossible expectations for many of the bids that do come in; projects mysteriously fading away. To be blunt, things are kind of shit these days. What keeps me going, in part, is that these challenges are not new and downturns are standard in this business. What worries me beyond the norm, however, is that this time things feel different ā like the downturn may never pick back up again.
The headwinds arenāt going away. At best, they will get less forceful.
When considering the state of the industry, I imagine myself navigating an epic journey ā camera backpack on with overly-heavy bag of lights and grip on my shoulder, while facing sustained headwinds whipping in my face as I try to advance. These headwinds are the many challenges facing the industry, and the thing that worries me is that I canāt imagine them going away anytime soon.
What Are The Big Challenges?
Supply & Demand: increasingly more photographers, influencers, content creators, work-for-themselves types & increasingly less projects at increasingly lower rates
Social Media: the way ads are now served has completely changed and everything is moving to video-first, lower quality is fine if not preferred
Barriers to Entry: itās increasingly cheap and easy to get a camera, lighting, etc and learn how to use it
Ai: this one, I think, had previously been over-hyped but will soon be under-hyped as it cuts out upwards of half of all paid photography needs
Commoditization: a new entry! See below
My mental list, already difficult to navigate, has gained a new bullet point after a conversation with my agent. While Iād already felt myself becoming a literal cog in the machine, as the industry becomes commoditized and we go the way of commercial airline pilots (letās talk about that Rehearsal finale over beers, huh?!), Iād failed to visualize the global scale of this shift. When Hollywood unions went on strike a few years back, the New Economy content streamers didnāt sit on the sidelines and wait things out, they went global. Production was shifted outside of the US and kept right on going. This motivated companies to shoot jobs in foreign countries with lower costs ā essentially, globalization of the creative industry.
I live in the Rust Belt, so it was perhaps silly of me to not see this one coming. But as Iāve written about previously and touched on here, there are so many talented photographers all over the world. It makes business-sense to hire the kid in Mexico (see: 2025 02 18) if heās going to deliver you a project better than you can get locally and at a third of the price.
Photography isnāt going away, but my baseline thinking is that weāre already living in a New Reality, which makes making a living through photography all the more challenging. As a hobby, photography is more popular than ever. More people are making photos than at any point in history, and this trend will probably only continue, even after Ai takes over the world. I think itās important for us to shift our thinking in terms of how we can make money through photography, if youāre like me and thatās all you really want to do.
Admittedly, my perspective on all of this is likely far more skewed and niche than most, as Iāve been fortunate enough to have made a good living doing higher-end commercial projects for large brands. Many younger photographers, or photographers focused on small to mid-sized business, may completely disagree with everything I am saying, understandably. Itās true, there still are vast opportunities out there for photographers, however, the amount of hustle required to find them is likely forever on the rise.
For me, there are a number of pivots I am currently navigating and exploring:
Iām doing more ācontentā photography through my various blogs (this one, everyoneisfamous.com), which could lead to payment in other ways (sponsorships, collabs, events, direct payments, yada yada). Itās a hustle.
Iām also pivoting quite hard towards motion, as Iām finding most of the projects that do come our way are video-first. I just landed one assignment that a video production company won, and was bidding on and lost another project that a video production company won (and then reached out to see if I could do photography for).
Iām exploring a more artistic approach (Doing personal work; selling prints, zines, eventually a photobook, etc, etc). Thatās also a hustle and an entirely new role, as the worlds are like oil and water in many ways.
Previously, Iād given myself a new job as a photo studio (See You Soon) manager and owner. This has worked well in some ways (networking, exploring things, having fun) and poorly in others (not making money and taking away most of my free time). While itās been a huge challenge, I havenāt given up on it yet. Tweaking the model and bringing in new and motivated partners, while using the space to re-focus my own career in a number of ways, is where my head is at currentlyā¦
Studio portraits is something I have never chosen to focus on until recently, but am now finding myself both enjoying it and considering it as a path towards more consistent income though photography.
Iām exploring more of a focus towards small-to-mid-sized clients. The thing is, I just love to make images ā if I could fill my calendar with interesting lower-rate jobs in exchange for never shooting another big-budget production again in my lifetime, it would be a deal I would take. The catch is, this also requires a time-consuming new approach towards finding clients and comes with a ding to your reputation; big-shot commercial photographers arenāt working for the local plumber and neither are top-tier art photographers.
Iāve also recently given myself a new job running a photobook popup with my friend Jack called Realm (IG: @realm.chicago, website coming later!). Weāre both excited about this, however, understand that any success will realistically be modest and also require a lot of hard work.
So thatās where my head is at right now. It has been a mental grind these last few years, and Iām hopeful that finding a more sustainable approach towards making a living through photography can be found. As I get older, the bang and bust lifestyle gets tiring, and Iām finding myself seeking consistency. Do what you love, they say. While this is loaded advice ā oftentimes the things you love, when they become a job, lose their luster. All that said, Iām more in love with photography now than I have been in my two decades of working with it, so I think itās a clear sign that dedicating the remainder of my life to it might not be a bad idea.
-Clayton
A previous version of this post had misspelled ānicheā as nitche, likely because the author was thinking all big and philosophically. Itās cool that weāve built Ai into every app and website, but havenāt mastered the spell check.
2025 05 26
Show me your point and shoot. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
One major reason I started this here blog was that I was finding myself spending far too much time consuming and not nearly enough time creating.
This video is filled with great little reminders about the importance of being creative and making things.
-Clayton
2025 05 25
Road consruction. Galesburg, Illinois. March, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Today was our second Realm photobook popup. The response thus far has been very good and has us excited about the future potential for our ideas.
Loosely speaking, for a few years now myself and Jack Garland have been obsessing over the idea that Chicago needs a shop dedicated to photography ā specifically photobooks. The aim is to open up a physical space, once we can prove there is a demand for this through popping up (what the kids do, these days), that will sell photobooks, zines, and other photography merch, while also hosting openings, gatherings and workshops. The exact concept is still being formulated and will depend on the realities of things, namely: rent, labor costs, government bureaucracy, and assessed demand. That said, considering how the first two popups have gone (we have three more now scheduled), I think itās safe to say you will be hearing a lot more from me about all of this on this here blog in the coming months.
Enjoy the holiday, yāall.
-Clayton
2025 05 24
North & Kedzie. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Right angles and straight lines are easier.
Hereās a nice video that popped into my feed.
-Clayton