Born in Germany, I grew up in France and the United Kingdom before settling in California. For me, art is not so much an activity or experience as much as a state of being--when I photograph, I melt into that moment, and nothing except creating that image matters. A translator by trade, I am always very conscious of how shifting the visual context rewrites the story of my subject: picking up a leaf from the forest floor and photographing it against a white backdrop completely flips the leaf's narrative from being insignificant litter to becoming a stunning hero shot. Explore more of my work at www.clausphotography.art