blog of photographer clayton hauck
Some misc film scans I’ve been slacking on for like a year or so… these were mostly shot with a Nikon FM2 aside from a few Yashica T4 snaps.
Free Rudy book in the free book bin
San Francisco sunset from Berkeley.
Japanese dude at SFO.
SanFrancisco airport
Juiceboxxx at Sultan’s in Chicago.
To see some more check out the entire gallery here…
enjoy,
Clayton
While it’s freezing cold here in the middle of winter in Chicago, I’ve been browsing thru some photos I took from the summer of ‘08. I had always wanted to get out to Coney Island and luckily I had the chance to do it during one of the last weeks it was open. It was supposed to shut down at the end of 2007 but they extended operation for another year. Apparently almost all the rides and attractions are going to be removed to make way for new developments. I was only there for a few hours but I’m more than glad about even that!
I also took a ride on the famous Cyclone roller coaster. At $8 a ride I almost skipped it, but if you know a little bit about me you’d know that I am a former (huge) roller coaster nerd.. and have ridden over 250 different coasters and used to obsess about them all day every day and the Cyclone was one I had never gotten to ride. My coaster addiction is no more but I felt a ride was necessary and damn, is that thing intense! Take a ride in the back row.. trust me 
Anyway these shots are pretty standard after for Coney Island but I thought I’d share regardless…
enjoy,
Clayton
San Diego, California
So here is some more goofing off.. no photoshopping here the colors come from my fancy new technique I am playing with.
I really liked the single guy in the spotlight thingy going on here. Had to wait a little while for it to pan out.
The Bank of China, one of my favorite buildings.
Crazy neon lights of Hong Kong Island…
Hip-shot that kind of worked a little.
School kids going home.. the trouble with shooting at f1.4 is that if you don’t nail the focus you can ruin an otherwise nice shot. I was lazy here and focused on the brick wall and you can definitely tell, esp on the high res.
So there you go, some photos from Hong Kong completed. I will be the first to admit these photos are less than masterpieces. I’d much rather keep this blog loose and post a little bit of everything. I’m sure travel photos are boring as hell for some people but perhaps a few of you out there find them interesting.
enjoy,
Clayton
First impression of Hong Kong on the night I arrived. Different world!
Some of the busier metro stations have glass walls between the train and platform, presumably to keep down the jumpers.. you know, people jumping into the path of oncoming trains. Just a guess..
Going up the hill on Hong Kong island.
On top of the hill looking into the city.
Mini toilet was pretty rad.
me.
So there ya go, some random Hong Kong shots.. a few more to come. I was in HK for a week but didn’t shoot as much as usual, for a few reasons. It was raining a lot and I was also a little tired from being on the road for over a month when all was said and done. I wanted to do a series of street portraits but never managed to begin. Oh well, I’ll just have to go back 
enjoy,
Clayton
OK so here are some more various shots from Japan. I guess one person was expecting a post full of masterpieces last time, so if you want nothing but fine art you should probably stop reading this post…
One of the local department stores in Ageo has a fun little community TV viewing area up top. This night they had on some sumo matches.
I always thought French kids were cute, but I think the Japanese kids have them beat. They all wear crazy little uniforms and goofy backpacks.
Measuring building height the old-fashioned way. Surprising for a country based in the future.
It appears many Japanese dislike direct sunlight. It’s common to use umbrellas or futuristic-looking visors.
Liked hanging out on this corner for a while because the light was very nice.
Guy sleeping in this crazy toy shop near the Omiya train station.
I discovered this pack of cats that all seemed to be friends with the lady that worked at the love hotel.
Ann and I discovered these old dudes in some random park who had a pack of like 12 cats that seemed to live with them in the park.
And I think the cats had some sort of goofy defect. And probably a lot of fleas.
But still, a few of them were quite cute, diseases and all.
We checked out this area that has a bunch of cool bonsai stores. He told us this particular one was like 50 years old, if I remember accurately.
Like this one.
It’s rained a lot while I’ve been here.
There are lots of these arcades which I think are the only form of legal gambling in Japan.. aside from the lottery which is fairly new.
The taxis here are really great. And the doors open and close automatically for you.
Roller coaster next to Tokyo Dome… I’ve been on like 250 roller coasters in my life and this one was one of the coolest of them all.
Cool view from the top of an office building near Tokyo Dome.
Another favorite.
Thats all for now.. I’ll have some more to come later.
enjoy,
Clayton
So I’m in Tokyo for a few weeks. Had the chance to come here and stay with a friend so I figured it was a good chance to get to see the city. Here are some shots from the first few days in town… in order they were shot.
I am staying in a smaller “suburb” called Ageo about an hour north of Tokyo’s center by train. Lots of people ride bikes here. It’s pretty ideal, actually, the way it all goes down here.
This guy was up to something.. very sneaky. I managed to get this one shot.
A little out of focus but surprised I even got this close. Happened fast and I had to shoot blind.
This is Shibuya, supposedly the world’s busiest intersection.
Some slow-shutter blur stuff in Shibuya…
Overhead view from the Starbucks window. “No cameras allowed” but nobody listens.
Hipshot. Kinda worked.
Lotttsssszzz of celly phones.
Cute pet store. The animals were like US$1,000-14,000 each.
Some Japanese cannot hold their liquor. I guess they are known for this here.. this girl stumbled out of a club on Friday night and her friends had to help her.. and it was only like 8pm or something.
Went to a “sushi train” with US$1-2 plates you can grab. I sat this one out and ate koala yummies instead.
Went to this awesome area I think called Golden Gai in Shinjuku where there are like 40 tiny little bars on small alleys, each with seating for like 6-12 people. Most of them have a small cover charge but give you a little food to snack on.
This guy was way drunk. Wish he came closer..
Pam tastes the sushi we got in the bar.
more neon.
more drunk Asians.
Police by our hotel. I made a boring shot somewhat interesting thru composition
I like this one. Reflections are nice.
me!
fancy hotel decor.
The first H&M just opened and there was a long line to get in.
In Ginza, the area with lots and lots of expensive designer stores.
At a good sushi restaurant in Tsukiji. And yes I finally ate sushi. Big boy.
People are short here.
Safe to sleep in public here. I saw two construction guys sleeping in the store they were working on, mid afternoon.
Liked the tones.
Genna is up to no good
Order and chaos.
the “professor” buying junk from Don Quijote random store of 6 floors of Japanese madness.
Crepe girl.
Anne being Anne
Wish they were looking my way.. should’ve said something.
One of the fair amount of insanely hunched over women I’ve seen.
gravy.
Cliche? I like the contrast.
Everyone sleeps on the trains, at all hours.
Not a lot of PDA around here so when I see it I make sure to capture it.
Bookstores all look so clean and orderly. Most everything does, actually. Even the homeless people in the shelter under city hall were all neatly lined up in perfect rows. Crazy!
Older Japanese George Bush lookalike guy with awesome pants.
More from Japan to come for sure.. and Hong Kong is up next when I’m done here! If you’ve been to Tokyo or HK and are reading this shortly after I post it, send me a note with some stuff to see and do!
enjoy,
Clayton
So here we go with the rest from La Victoria, DR…
Of course, more roosters…
And these things. No idea.
Locals playing dominos. One guy keep saying “no pictures” but apparently he was just joking. Still seemed pretty serious to me, haha.
This little guy was staring at me the entire time and didnt flinch when I felt the need to get a photo of him as well. Overall the dominos shots I got were not fantastic. Opportunity lost I guess. My memory card got full and we decided to continue walking.
Dirties.
He was playing with another boy. I could tell they were checking me out, and when I asked if he wanted his photo taken he got way excited. Again, I wish my viewfinder was functioning. Framing this and all the others was a guessing game.
Sign signaling the different areas of La Victoria. Again, it was very spread out. We walked for a good four of five hours.
Very typical scene in the area…
…not a pet tarantula.
One of the rare cats I saw the entire time.
Beautiful scenery on the island.
One of my favorite shots from the trip. There were lots of taxi motocycles taking people around the area, to and from the city center I assume.
Getting back into the more densely populated area. There were three “major roads” thru town, this being the one least traveled.
Lots of toy guns all over the place.
I played a fun game with these two. They would hide whenever I put my camera up. It was pretty mutually hilarious without a word spoken between us. I love the colors, though!
Showing the kids you have a camera and are ready to use it is a good way to get tied up for 10 minutes. Everyone wants a photo and they dont let you leave! It was hard with the broken viewfinder, unfortunately.
Simple.
Details.
And there you have it! A bit of the more rural side of the Dominican Republic. It was a nice country with lots of nice people. I’d definitely love to go back some time and explore the country some more.
Enjoy,
Clayton
One day I was lucky enough to get to travel to a smaller town named La Victoria outside of the capital. Here are some photos.
Ever try to catch a rooster? Good luck.
Yeah, yeah. Rooster fetish.
So we went to a house to have lunch. There were a few American families living there and doing missionary work. I thought it was interesting to think about being a child in a foreign country like these kids do.
The colors in DR are perfect for taking photos
Dominican coffee, muy delicioso!
So a local dude took us on a 5 hour walking journey thru La Victoria. The district is big and includes many different areas of settlement, sprawling far outside the main city center.
“You are the first Americans to walk this path.” He told us. We decided to walk the path thru the forest instead of the main roads.
So here we are in the more rural area of La Victoria. Lots of the houses contained large amounts of land and farm animals.
Kids playing stickball. Obviously materials are not easy to comeby. They use thin sticks and water jug caps which kind of hover in like a smaller frisbee. They let me hit a few times. Poped it up foul and hit a grounder. It’s pretty tough!
A few women let me take their photos. They were pretty excited about it, actually.
Kids hanging out at the baseball game.
More photos to come from La Victoria. I’m going to split it into two parts because I’m hungry and need to go find some food
Enjoy,
Clayton
These photos are all from within the capitol, Santo Domingo. I can’t say they are the greatest photos ever, but there are a few good ones in the bunch. I was down there for 5 days and stayed with my friend Ryan who is doing missionary work on the island. Here are some shots…
These are on the main tourist street. Lots of bad art and knick-knacks. Not very interesting. It started to rain. It rained every day I was there, I think… but it doesnt last very long usually.
Chinese tourist(?) feeding the pigeons in what seemed to be the cities’ main square in terms of tourism and historical spots. It is called Zona Colonial (the Colonial Zone).
Lunch. Chicken and rice, what else? And Presedente beer of course. Ryan had spaghetti (or spaghettis as the menu called it).
Lots of dogs hanging around in DR.
More from the square. This cathedral is the oldest existing settlement founded by Europeans in Western hemisphere. Built in the early 1500’s, some people think the remains of Christopher Columbus ended up in this building.
Inside the cathedral. It’s quite nice. As soon as I got inside I found my camera to be “broken” A mystery indeed! Luckily it was an easy fix. Unluckily I did not know this and spent the remainder of my trip with a non-functional viewfinder…not the best for composing shots.
This street, Calle Las Damas, was apparently built in 1502 and was the first paved road in the Americas. Old man Columbus walked these roads!
Some old castle I didn’t want to pay to explore.
Birds above Calle Las Damas.
Getting out of the Colonial Zone and into the city..
The dogs in the Dominican are not like dogs in the US. They don’t trust people at all, probably because they get beat often. I quickly realized that the normal methods I use to gain a dogs trust are useless here. When I would bend down to take a photo the dogs would freak out immediately and run away. I had to wait here for a few minutes for the dog to continue to eat whatever scrap that was he found.
I liked the windows.
These kids were outside playing. One of them noticed us (two white dudes) and we overheard ‘gringo.’ They were surprised when we talked to them in Spanish, and of course they wanted a photo taken, too.
Here is the National Palace. Exciting stuff.
Guard with gun. Not sure what he was up to.
Dominican fast food. I think they have a location in NYC, as well.
We went to a baseball game. The home team won. I bought a hat. Baseball here is much more exciting than in the states.
From the rooftop of the house I was staying at. The lights of the city off in the distance.
The road from the airport into town. That’s the Caribbean out there and this is pretty much what it’s like year round there.
This is Peter. He was out cab driver of choice. If you ever end up in DR let me know and I’ll give you his number
A few other things of note: I twice rode in a cab van with more than 24 people in it. The first thing we did after I landed was go to a gas station and buy a large bottle of Presidente beer to drink while we drove back into town. There usually are no lines in the roads, and if there are they are ignored. Also, driving on the wrong side of the road is apparently not a concern. Cars seem to be driven until them simply fall apart. One afternoon we hit rush hour and it took about 2 hours to go a few miles. I went scuba diving and it was pretty rad. 2 dives, the second one we went down like 30 feet, all for roughly US$70. One night at a bodega, a local guy seemed to be amazed at my presence. Light skin is preferred and straight hair is uncommon. He took a photo of me on his camera phone, and then another one using the camera’s American flag border feature. Roosters are everywhere. Usually the roosters would start to crow before I even went to sleep at night. Mosquitos are everywhere, too. I got probably around 40 bites (hopefully none with malaria). Don’t underestimate the line at the airport when you go home. Luckily I skipped it, probably because I got the you are an American hook-up. There are lots of beautiful girls in the Dominican Republic.
More to come. Enjoy,
Clayton
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