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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Photography Culture

Claire Droppert’s Gravity Sand Creatures Were Created In Camera

Chris Gampat
No Comments
08/20/2015
3 Mins read

Last Updated on 08/20/2015 by Chris Gampat

Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness...
Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness…

All images by Claire Droppert. Used with permission.

Photographer Claire Droppert was born in 1977, in the Hook Of Holland, The Netherlands. She currently lives and works in Rotterdam as a freelance designer/photographer, making conceptual artwork for clients, as well as personal projects. “In my work, I’m inspired by the combination of simplicity, exceptional visions and new techniques, with a subtle minimalistic approach.” says Claire.

So when we stumbled upon her project “Gravity Sand Creatures” on Behance, we instantly fell in love with it.

What’s even more amazing about Gravity Sand Creatures is that the images were all created in camera after Claire developed a system that worked for her. The inspiration came from her daughter playing in the sand. Claire did the same and started to see creatures appear when she threw the sand in specific ways. So by using a remote control with her camera, she was able to create these awesome

We talked to Claire more about the project.

Phoblographer: Talk to us about how you got into photography.

swarm

Claire: After studying Graphic Design in Rotterdam, I worked for several communication agencies as a graphic designer. It is my passion for photography that took me to another stage in my career. Beside my regular activities as a graphic designer, I also became more specialised as a photographer. As a result of this I found that I love the challenge of merging these two disciplines together to create interesting images.

skunk

Phoblographer: What made you get into conceptual images like these?

Claire: Photography is a constant process, that evolves over time. I love to create images in a unique way. I like to compose an image, that we might not always see at first glance. Trying out new techniques and then combining those with subjects you might not always think of, have always been part an integral part of my process.

Phoblographer: How did you go about actually creating the photos? Was there off-camera lighting involved and how many trials were made to create the photos?

Claire: I went to the beach on different days to get various shots of the skies. I then shot the photo’s with a tripod and used a remote. I then shovelled the beach sand and threw it into the air, in order to create the sand creatures. I did have many attempts at this difficult process, since I didn’t always get the results I wanted. Especially at first. It was steep learning learning curve and involved a great deal of experimenting, but I eventually found a system that worked for me.

Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness...

Phoblographer: What gave you the creative inspiration to create these images?

Claire: One summer’s day my daughter was playing in the sand at our local beach. I saw her kicking sand up in the air and as it caught the sunlight, the visual created was quite inspirational. Then in my shooting process, I began to see shapes of creatures, which eventually formed the basis of my work.

Phoblographer: Every artist creates art out of expression. What were you trying to express?

Claire: I want to simply create an appreciation of what we have all around us. Celebrate the moment and the natural world. It is important for us to look closely at the beauty of our surroundings.

Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness...
Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness…
Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness...
Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness…
Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness...
Sand comes alive and creatures are born in frozen moments of weightlessness…
behance camera Claire Droppert Gravity Sand Creatures Photography surreal
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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