Angie Klaus is a photographer and filmmaker whose specialty is documenting birth, and creating family stories in photos and videos. She is a West Coast native but currently lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and three children and spends most of her free time outside enjoying nature and planning her family’s next adventures.
Klaus is also a mentor, instructor, and speaker who interacts with other artists worldwide. She is committed to giving back to the community, both locally and globally, for the special opportunities she’s had, and is a volunteer for Spectrum Inspired, donating photography sessions to families of children with autism. She has been honored as one of Clickin Moms Top 100 Photographers to Watch in 2017, and named as a Looks Like Film Artist of the Year 2017. Her work has appeared in Click Magazine, Posh Seven Magazine, Spectrum Inspired Magazine, Baby Center blog, and The Huffington Post.
Klaus is a visual storyteller and her photography and videography are moment-driven and emotive. “I don’t have a reliable long-term memory,” she admits, “so my motivation has always been to create images and films as a way to travel back in time and to trigger a memory of the way a moment actually felt for myself or my subjects. I view the stories I create as an insurance policy for memories.”
In recent years, much of her creative energy has been channeled toward growing her business and creating art for her clients, but in this next phase of her journey, her mission will be more focused on personal expression, creating films and photos of and for her own family.
Angie Klaus has always been an avid picture taker. Even as a young child she was always snapping photos, mostly with inexpensive and disposable cameras. “I would find whatever cheap camera I could get my hands on,” she recalls. I would then develop the photos and journal about my adventures, taping photos next to my words and acquiring stacks of journals over the years. When I didn’t have a photo, I would illustrate my adventures with drawings. It was always about preserving memories.” In college, her track coach presented her with a Pentax 35mm SLR, which she used to record her travels to Europe and South America. However, she didn’t learn to shoot in manual mode until her first child was born in 2009. “My craving to preserve motherhood memories became a driving force, but I found my creativity limited by just shooting in auto mode,” she observes.
“One thing led to another, and I discovered so much joy and fulfillment in documenting moments for other families.”
“Once I transitioned to digital and bought a DSLR, learning to shoot in manual mode felt like a natural progression, and it was a critical turning point in my journey,” she says. “It immediately helped me better express myself by controlling the depth of field as well as the light and movement in my images. I couldn’t get enough, and after sharing some photos of my own son, I was asked to photograph friends and neighbors. I had no intentions of creating a business at that point. But one thing led to another, and I discovered so much joy and fulfillment in documenting moments for other families. By spring 2011 I was in the early stages of building a photography business.” More recently, she has returned to shooting some 35mm film in manual mode, savoring the challenges and delayed gratification that are such an integral part of shooting film.
Beyond learning the basics of shooting in manual, and attending a couple valuable workshops, Angie Klaus is primarily self-taught. “I have definitely had to learn as I go along,” says Klaus, “but I have felt inspired by so many along my journey—this happens nearly every day as I scroll through my Instagram feed. Most recently, I have found myself inspired by Ginger Unzueta, a mother and fellow presenter at the Click Away 2018 photography retreat. Her talk on documenting everyday experiences and finding your ‘why’ for photography really resonated with me and has influenced my decision to take fewer clients and invest more in my own memories while my children are still little. My photos and videos are rooted in photojournalism with a hearty dose of environmental portraiture, but I also like to create emotive lifestyle images. I prefer not to have my work confined to a label. It is ever evolving, just as I am as an artist and person.”
Klaus’s go-to camera bodies for photos and video are a Nikon D850 and a Nikon D750. “For client work, my primary lenses are the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens and the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art lens. Both are fast, sharp, and render shadows and light beautifully, plus I love their low light capability and build quality.”
She also uses the Sigma USB Dock to make micro-adjustments to ensure perfect focusing accuracy. “It’s easier to do it at home rather than having to send your gear in for calibration. If the focus on your test images isn’t accurate, you simply click on the focal distance you want to adjust, move the slider by the amount you want adjusted, then click ‘Rewriting’.” Now remove the lens, take more test shots, and continue the process until you achieve the optimal focus point.”
“For portrait work I also occasionally use my Nikon 85mm f/1.4,” says Klaus, “and I have a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 I use for freelensing—holding the lens up to the open camera mount and shooting in live view. My favorite creative lens is the Lensbaby Edge 50 that I use along with the Lensbaby Composer Pro. This lets me achieve a creative look similar to freelensing, but without risking dust or other matter contaminating my sensor, which can be particularly troublesome for video work. Aside from reliable, high quality bodies and lenses, and a triangular prism that also lives in my camera bag, I am a minimalist in terms of equipment. I don’t use stabilizers, external microphones, or many other accessories aside from polarizers and variable neutral density filters for filming. I do have a Nikon SB700 flash but I only use it occasionally when shooting births in very low light, and I find the Zacuto Z-finder viewfinder a useful tool for outdoor filming in bright light.”
The overarching theme of Angie Klaus’s body of work is emotion, which is reflected in the moments themselves, as well as in the deeper shadows and wide tonal range sometimes achieved in creative post-processing. “Curiosity characterizes my personal work,” asserts Klaus. “And in my film work I always strive to highlight authentic connections complemented with meaningful audio. Strength and joy can be observed throughout my birth stories. Finally, there is my strong faith, a constant source of peace and comfort to me that is also evident in many of my song selections and imagery. I have a fondness for unexpected beauty so many of my favorite images to make are those unpredictable moments where light, texture, and emotion come together without production, imperfectly, yet interestingly…and invite me to stay for a while. My Lensbaby is my go-to for these shots.”
“Photography is how I relate to others, through commonalities, experiences, and emotions. It’s also how I preserve my own legacy and that of my family.”
“My approach is to be unobtrusive in form, particularly at births and family documentary sessions,” Klaus continues. “I observe keenly and use minimal gear to document from my heart. This method has served me well and using just a camera body and lens allows me to stay low profile and blend into the environment to access emotion and authenticity with my subjects. Essentially, photography is how I relate to others, through commonalities, experiences, and emotions. It’s also how I preserve my own legacy and that of my family.”
During the next few years, Angie Klaus intends to step back from client work, limit her client base, and move in the direction of teaching and mentoring other artists. “I expect my work will shift from being mainly client-based to more strongly reflecting my own journey in motherhood, and representing everything I cling tightly to as I watch my children grow and change. My business will always be important to me, but babies don’t keep.”
She is also planning to do more creative work in the area of social justice. “Diversity and social justice awareness are important to me, and I am currently exploring more ways to raise awareness of relevant issues and to promote diversity in my work and in the industry.” Whatever she does going forward, you can rest assured it will be undertaken with heartfelt compassion and love.
To learn more about Angie Klaus and to see more of her compelling images and videos, visit her website, follow her on Facebook.com/angieklausphotography, and on Instagram @angieklausphoto. You can also see more of her video work at vimeo.com/angieklaus.
