Sometimes the most mundane of actions can serve as impetus for art, transforming a simple gesture into a mesmerizing visual feast. Take, for example, Claire Droppert's series "Sand Creatures."
"Whilst at our local beach, in the Netherlands, I saw my daughter playing and kicking sand up in the air," Droppert explained to HuffPost. "As she did this, I noticed the sunlight shine through and the resulting effect looked gorgeous. As gravity and light took control, I saw shapes of sand creatures being created."
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And so a photography project was born. Using a DSLR camera, a tripod and the sandy expanses of a beach, Droppert creates gravity-defying "creatures" that exist only for a moment, memorialized by her quick shutter. She simply shovels and tosses sand, and before her very eyes, abstract figures and geometric forms take shape.
Liken the process to cloud gazing; just as we stare at the skies, willing cumulonimbus and altostratus to resemble rabbits and smiling faces, Droppert stares into the ethereal sand configurations and sees bodies and limbs. "I’m fascinated by nature, I enjoy observing and being part of my surroundings," she explained. "'Sand Creatures'... is part of my 'Gravity' project. Within this project I wanted to capture the Earth's different elements (sand, light, wind, etc) and let them stand out in their natural environment."
The result is a moment frozen in time, one that appears so pristine we wonder if it ever happened. Check out the entire "Sand Creatures" series below and head over to Droppert's website for more on her work.
