2025 08 14
You said it, man. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
This tag spoke to me, as I passed by in a hurry to get to one of my various side hustle jobs. Iām clearly doing too much. Spreading myself too thin. Whether this is the right decision or not, I donāt yet know, but it feels quite necessary if I want to stick with photography as my job (as I do).
This also reminded me of my friend, Donāt Fret. He unexpectedly passed away earlier this year and I donāt think Iāve fully comprehended the fact that heās no longer here. Often, we focus far too much on moving, moving, moving. And not enough on Being Present, as he would advise through his art.
I worked long hours Monday thru Thursday this week. While stopping one morning to grab a coffee and breakfast sandwich at a Starbucks, before most other coffee shops were open, the scene was stark: The pickup counter was full of caffeinated beverages waiting to be picked up. I ordered at the counter, and while I waited for my cold brew, I watched an endless flow of human drones with sleep in their eyes walk in, grab their order, and head off into the workday.
Reminder: it is important to be present
-Clayton
2025 08 13
Kenneth. Petzval lens testing. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Testing a fun new lens out at the dark bar. I shot a lot of video, as well, which Iāve promptly done nothing with. Classic me!
-Clayton
2025 08 12
City jail. Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Lately Iāve been wondering if maybe a normal-person job might be a good idea. Something regular and consistent to help us pay the bills, replace the air conditioner, roof, oven, have health insurance. Itās frustrating to put so much of your life into a thing (photography) and have everything change so much in your prime living years. This isnāt new, though. When I was the young photographer, itās the same exact thing that was happening to the older shooters I then looked up to; I know nobody is out there feeling sorry for me.
This week, however, my photo gigs have been relentless. Much like a normal-person job: I wake up, walk the dog, go to work, head home, eat, watch a show or two, go to sleep, wake up and repeat. Itās a nice reminder that this relentless use of my time is something I hope to avoid, if at all possible. Trading your life for a paycheck. Itās complicated, obviously, but I think weāll stick it out another year in the photography grind and see if we canāt continue to make it work.
Good luck out there.
-Clayton
2025 08 11
Catalpa in bloom. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
The tree on our corner is a favorite of mine. This image reminded me that I have some video I was planning to cut together. Video, it seems, is always something Iām forgetting to cut togetherā¦
-Clayton
2025 08 09
Stop (the negativity)! Chicago, Illinois. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Nobody visited This Here Blog yesterday. While itās always sad when people donāt resonate with the things you put your time into, instead of being sad and negative about it, letās turn the tables and write some positive things (about photography) that are happening right now!
Nobody visited yesterday but I also didnāt post anything yesterday because I was busy working on a big project. The job is, realistically, larger than most professional photographers will book in their entire career. Okay, now weāre just braggingā¦
Nobody visited yesterday but usually a few people do, and thatās pretty cool! Anyone taking the time to look at what you are up to is amazing. I think social media has largely skewed our views towards engagement. If we are not putting up numbers in the thousands or millions, we are somehow failing. Yet if fifteen people stopped us on the street one day to say hello, weād be shocked and amazed.
This blog, even on days I fail, has been teaching me lessons about myself and how I manage and edit my images. I still have a long way to go, but Iām figuring out new systems to help me better organize my insane amounts of photos.
Sure itās been a challenge and perhaps wonāt be around forever, but the fact that I currently have an amazing studio that people really enjoy being in makes me happy.
Iām having more fun making images now than quite possibly at any other time in my career (not a negative thought, per se, but: my concern is that there is a correlation in this observation in that I am also the slowest Iāve ever been in my career from a paid assignments perspective. Maybe weāll dig more into this another day).
Iām exploring new things within the world of photography that I am really enjoying, namely: printing and learning all about the world of photobooks and publishing.
My list of ideas on projects I could be working on is growing so large itās overwhelming (maybe this isnāt good??). I guess it makes me feel good to continually have the inspiration to do things, despite the reality that time is always the limiting factor.
Anytime Iām on Instagram, I see many people using my images as their profile photo. As I get more into offering portrait shoots, this is a nice little thing that helps keep me motivated.
Not photo related but: Iāve cut out most news and politics from my life and have put much more time into reading books and watching movies, which very much helps my creativity.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Clayton
2025 08 07
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. Wilmington, Illinois. June, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
While weāve long ago rid our land of all of itās natural habitat, itās nice that weāre at least putting minimal effort into restoring a few scraps back to what it kinda sorta once was. Directly behind me in this image is a bomb bunker (see: 2025 05 19).
-Clayton
2025 08 06
Haley and the barn. Kingdom, Illinois. July, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Iāve always been fascinated by how people exteeeeend words audibly while saying a list of things they want to feel more impactful. āIām so busy! I have to waaaaalk the dooooog, cleeeean the baaaathroom; thereās just no time!ā When I was a kid, I recall being in the kitchen with my mom and her friend. The woman did this while listing off some things in mundane conversation and I called her out on it. Not in a judgy way, but more so asking if theyād ever noticed how everyone does this. I remember her reaction being quite lackluster, to my astonishment. āYeah, I guess youāre right,ā she said, most likely.
Anyway, back to work. I have a loooot of important things to do today.
-Clayton
2025 08 04
Salt Shed. Chicago, Illinois. April, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Sometimes you leave the house and realize thereās a whole world of things happening. Often, when out, I get the sense that I really should be getting out more. But then I quickly rediscover my house and stay there for weeks or months on end.
I used to leave the house all of the time! This year, Lollapalooza came and went and I hardly even noticed it happening. Iād get more into this, from a photographer-that-used-to-be-there-every-yearās perspective, but I honestly donāt think itās worth my time or yours.
See you out there!
-Clayton
2025 08 03
Meijer in an unknown location, but likely Indiana. November, 2022. Ā© Clayton Hauck
If youāre paying attention, you mightāve noticed some images in recent days which were made back in late 2022. Iāve been digging through work made with my Ricoh (most of the images on this here blog are from one of my two Ricohs) in an effort to print some kind of zine/booklet situation. What, exactly, it will be is still unclear, however, it will definitely be a showcase of my personal photography and writing.
Unrelatedly, today my sister texted me a photo of the two booklets I made a decade prior. Those were less-so my own work and instead featured various things Iād read over the past year, which I wanted to share with friends. This time, Iāll be sharing my own work instead of stealing things from others and reproducing them. One regret is not doing this sooner. Another regret is not continuing the tradition of printing things, whatever they may be, and sharing them with friends. I guess Iāve got some time to make up for and friends to make.
-Clayton
2025 08 02
Wilson. Wilmette, Illinois. November, 2022. Ā© Clayton Hauck
āHauck shares similarities with photographers like Alec Soth, whose work blends documentary with personal storytelling, though Hauck's style is less polished and more improvisational.ā -Grok
I asked ai to analyze this here blog, which Iāve sunk a pretty significant amount of my time into over the last two years. In about two seconds, Grok got back to me with a thorough and quite accurate analysis, including many quotes and examples, from the five-hundred or so blog entries Iāve made. Iām not quite sure what to think of this, however, I do now have a fun tool to help me write flattering quotes about myself and my work to help make me look cool.
-Clayton āSoth-Like But Less Polishedā Hauck
2025 07 31
Neighborhood cat. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
ā¦or maybe Iām still a cat person, after all.
-Clayton
2025 07 30
Am I a dog person? Buddy the dog. Chicago, Illinois. June, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
It was while listening to a Photo Banter podcast with guest Mark Mahaney (spurred by watching a youtube video from Bryan Birks) that it hit me: Am I not taking my photos seriously enough? Am I making too much work and focusing on the wrong things? Should I be shooting as much as I am or perhaps slow down and get more focused on what I am shooting? Should I then put far more time into sculpting the best images and thinking much deeper about how and where I am showing them? These are all great in practice, but my approach to making work has always been sort of the antithesis of this. This doesnāt mean I am doing things the wrong way, but this Winogrand-like approach has been weighing on me lately as I fill up hard drive after hard drive with images that, after being made, will usually never again see the light of day.
My goal here is not to turn this blog post into a decisive moment of reshaping my entire approach to photography, however, I'd like to encourage you first to check out the work of Mark Mahaney if youāre not already familiar, and then go into a bit more depth on a few of the notes I frantically made while listening to the podcast in the middle of editing a batch of thousands of photos.
NOTES FROM A PODCAST: these are some things Mark mentioned as being important to him, followed by some thoughts from me.
1) Give smaller edits to clients. There is not strength in merely showing you make more images.
This one hits me hard because I struggle with it and know itās something I need to work harder on. Part of why I started this here blog was to improve my photo editing skills. Iām all-too-often guilty of falling in love with my babies and find it challenging to move things to the scrap pile. Itās the editorial mindset. The photojournalistās approach. Maybe these other images, while weaker on their own, can be used to help sculpt the overall narrative, I tell myself, while spending tons of additional time adjusting and toning images that will never be seen again. āYouāre only as strong as your weakest image,ā they say. While I largely disagree with this sentiment, I am fully aware that giving a client a set of 20 selects rather than 120 selects will both help them in the process and make me look like I have stronger convictions in what it is I am aiming to achieve through my images.
2) Make myself happy, not them.
Hereās another one I am in strong agreement with. Weāre not out here telling you to disregard your clientsā needs and desires. But only once you are fully engaged with what you ā the artist being hired for your photography skills ā are drawn towards will your images achieve a level of quality and uniqueness that you are capable of achieving. Clients and assistants often have great ideas on set (and terrible ones!). This is not to say you shouldnāt listen to anyone, but I know myself and I know that one of my weaknesses as a photographer is that I am a people pleaser who still has a production-assistant mentality much of the time. Only once I learn to fully engage with my photographic instincts will the images I am making be the strongest they can be. Oftentimes, Iām drawn to the work I made early in my career I think in large part because I was out there working for myself and only myself.
3) Only show the work you want to make it out into the world.
Does the world need to see the dog photo I used atop the page? No (Buddy may disagree). I give it a pass here because this blog is not strictly my platform for showing my strongest work, but a place to get out my thoughts and feelings about photography. That said, I know I could be a lot better about sharing far less weaker images online. Itās a similar point to number one, but me spraying my photos into the wild might do more disservice than good when it comes to wanting people to take me seriously as an artist.
4) Create my own voice in this cluttered industry ā set myself apart.
This one aināt easy. Itās what sets people apart from the pack. While I think Iāve done a relatively good job of this throughout my career, I do also think that as the quantity of great photographers increases dramatically (as is the case!), Iām sinking back down into the pack. Making consistent, strong work is the best way to achieve this, but it can help to be known for something. Like rappers shouting taglines through all of their songs, photographs will embrace one lil thing and claim it for themselves. Markās use of inverse vignettes is what originally made me take notice of his work, and itās a style that I find myself using more (this is where things get tricky. Itās not like Mark owns this approach to editing images, but you can look like a copycat if youāre not careful). I aim to further explore some low-key signatures of my own which I am carefully guarding behind lock and key. Seriously, though, I think my bigger takeaway is that I need to invest far more time into the editing of my images if I want to stand out.
5) His two biggest pieces of advice to younger photographers: Learn Quickbooks and assist other photographers.
Iāll strongly agree with both here. Personal finances were something that I largely neglected through my younger successful years (luckily Iām not a big spender, but did a pretty bad job of tracking money generally). The second piece, assisting, is one regret that I have in my own career. I did a lot of it but mostly in the motion world, which has some carryover but is surprisingly different in many aspects. The thing I mentioned earlier about having a production assistant mentality was a learned skill from assisting on motion sets. I find myself being unable to tune out the production chatter, as my brain wants to immediately try to help solve problems Iām not even involved in, rather than lock in and focus on the art. Much of art is theft, and learning tricks from other photographers by watching what they do on set is something I didnāt get much access to. Maybe this is a good thing, actually?? Probably not.
While not quite on topic but an adjacent thought: I need to get much better about gaining and maintaining relationships with other photographers and photo editors, in an effort to help improve my own work. Iāve always been a bit of a loner and this mentality will usually only get you so far. Additionally, Mark talked a lot about his preparedness on set, which was rather impressive. It seems clear Mark has a personality type that helps him execute complicated shoots. While I donāt think Iām bad in this regard, I do think my personality is much different from his and I could benefit from additional focus on both pre-production and post-production. Clearly, the takeaway for me is that I really enjoy the act of shooting more than the other aspects of the job, which are also needed to round out and produce successful images.
Anyway. Those are some quick thoughts about my own career as it relates to a fellow Chicagoland native making amazing photos. I strongly encourage you to both check out that episode, linked below, and listen to Alex Gangeās other episodes as itās one of the best out there for photo nerds like myself.
-Clayton
The imbed isnāt working for whatever reason so here is a direct Spotify link and here is a link to the Apple podcasts
2025 07 29
Haley, the cat lurer. Mineral Point, Wisconsin. April, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
My whole life Iāve been a cat person. Recently, however, Iāve found myself wondering if Iām actually more of a dog person (who also really loves cats). The reality is that I havenāt had a ton of exposure to dogs and when I was a kid, a few of my friends had dogs that scarred the shit out of me, which put a bad taste in my mouth towards them.
In a similar fashion, my entire career as a photographer, Iāve been a bulk shooter. Coming up in the digital era and doing work at events and photojournalism assignments, it was always beneficial to shoot more than you think you need. Then, as my career developed and I began doing mostly commercial assignments, the same approach applied ā maximize the output! Lately, however, Iāve been wondering if thereās actually a better way to go about things; to slow it down and focus on just the best images.
More on this tomorrowā¦
-Clayton
2025 07 28
An image by Jack Garland. November, 2022. Easy Does It, Chicago, Illinois. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Can a photo change your life? For me, a working photographer some two decades into my journey, the answer is a clear yes. Images have been shaping my path more than Iāve known for quite a while. I found my wife while making photos (she was, too!). Iāve bought a house and a few cars through making photos. But do the individual images actually have such an impact on things?
This image, displayed during a photo show at Easy Does It, got me out of my house one night and into the world, where I met my now friend Jack Garland. Since the meeting, weāre now running a photobook popup called Realm, with the aim of giving this operation a physical space of its own. Iām now sensing the possibility of this new path, formed at the head by a single image, becoming even wider and guiding me through the middle years of my life.
This message has been paid for by the Photography Corporation of America
-Clayton
2025 07 27
Another (really) Busted Car. Belleville, Wisconsin. May, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
-Clayton
2025 07 26
Lost shoe? Chicago, Illinois. November, 2022. Ā© Clayton Hauck
It is quite remarkable how, in the blink of an eye, one missed day balloons into three.
-Clayton