When you’re a kid, a cloud can look as much like a dragon as a floating mass of water vapor. Even as adults, no one is immune to the magic moment when a random gathering of molecules morphs into fantastical animals or familiar forms. It’s a hallmark of the childlike, playful interaction with the world that we too often lose with age, and it is what makes Claire Droppert’s photos of flying beach sand so fetching.
In the first installment of her Gravity series, the Rotterdam-based photographer and designer captures thrown shovelfuls of sand midway through their aerial arcs. Her photos, taken only with natural light and fast shutter speeds, reveal sharp forms and bold strokes of movement. The vague shapes--Is that a rabbit? A seahorse?--suggest animals peeking into our world from a parallel dimension. Once you start seeing them this way, it’s hard to stop.
Droppert was walking on the shores of a Dutch beach 13 months ago when a spray of sand kicked up by her daughter caught her attention. Droppert was fascinated by the way in which the morning light framed the explosion of sand against the sky and started trying to capture the effect in pictures.
“I began to see these sorts of creatures rising from some of the images," she says. "Then I started seeing creatures popping up all over.“
The images aren’t something that can be planned. Instead, it's her reliance upon optimal lighting conditions and a lucky sweep of sand that creates interesting forms. Droppert operates simply, with a camera on a tripod and a polarizing filter to add contrast to the sky. She never uses additional light sources. At first. she had an assistant handle the shovel, but she gave that arrangement up pretty early on.
“I found that it was hard focusing the camera while throwing the sand," she says. "It took me quite a few shots to get the effect I wanted."
The series started on the beach, but Droppert has become inspired by the general notion of elements separated from their environment. She plans to continue Gravity in other contexts, but the locations and elements she plans to emphasize are, er, up in the air. Whatever she chooses, it'll draw upon her affinity for landscapes, which you also can see at play in her Instagram feed.
“I love extreme landscapes, anything weird. Places where you can really be amazed by nature. Could be anything really,” she says. “My preference goes to places where you can see the sky and look for miles and miles, because I love clouds and weather.”
Droppert feels a personal connection to the beach, and her photographs are drawn from hundreds taken at shorelines around Holland. Droppert considers herself as much of an editor as a photographer, and says a big part of the process is the rewarding feeling of seeing a photograph that works in just the right way. The light has to be just so, with the clouds in the sky providing a compositional counterweight to the clouds of sand in the foreground. It’s the pleasure of these moments, rather than any grand artistic statement, that drives her process.
“For some it’s an artform, but for me it’s something I love doing, it’s a passion," she says. "There are people seeing art in it, but there are people that just see sand and beaches. I just work where my passion lies and don’t really consider it as being a place where people have to even see me.”
All photos by Claire Droppert
