Claire Droppert

"It started with lightning." Today, Claire Droppert is known for the stillness of her images but it was dramatic thunderstorms that made her want to become a photographer. Growing up off the coast of the Netherlands, she was obsessed with the weather. Using an old SLR that belonged to her parents, she began experimenting with trying to freeze moments that caught her eye and would otherwise pass as quickly as they arrived. As a 12-year-old, she spent all her pocket money on film to get that perfect shot of lightning.

At university in Rotterdam, she studied graphic design, working her way up through a string of creative agencies before finding her way back to photography. "As a designer on magazine projects, I was drawn to images, so I started taking them myself," says Claire, investing in a camera in 2010 as she became more serious about photography. Initially sharing photographs on social media, she soon had a strong following. Her work got picked up by the media. When she reached out to magazines and brands with her portfolio, they were keen to see more, and she began shooting commercial campaigns.

While Claire's work has taken her to remote locations, she believes that silence is not specific to any place, but is more of a mindset. "Wherever ​​I am, I always look for the horizon. I think it has to do with growing up by the sea with the wide open space of the beach where so much sky is visible and you can see the weather coming," she explains. "I've been to many beautiful locations to see the world in silence. And I've been to places that are busier, less famous. But in the right light, I could find the silence in those places too. It comes down to the weather conditions: the mist, the clouds, the wind."

Claire strives to push herself creatively and technically to produce bold, surprising visuals. Her photographs pay close attention to the movements and shapes of nature, from the murmurations of birds in flight to subtly shifting cloud formations or focusing in on a single creature or plant, whether that's a white horse on the shoreline, a tree on a mountaintop or a single flower amid a field.

Her compositions, whether landscapes, skyscapes or animal portraits, are calm, ethereal and minimalist. There's a reason her work resonates with viewers. "Everything rushes by so fast today," says Claire. "If you can be in the moment and look at what's around you, that awareness can give you peace in this hectic world."

How does your background in graphic design influence your photography?

"I look for balance; I look for shapes and colour and lines, maybe in a different way to a normal photographer. I always leave negative space because when you publish a photograph in a magazine, that's where the words go. It's as though I am ‘designing' each frame."


Sand Creatures set you on a fine art path. Where did the idea come from?

"Walking on the beach with my daughter in 2014, she started kicking sand in the air. I watched the shapes formed by the sand in the sunshine and thought, 'Wow, I have to come back here and take some photographs of this'. I returned with a shovel, my camera and my tripod and started experimenting. That was my first conceptual project."


You sell some images as digital motion art. How does that enhance your work?

"I'm always interested in taking images further. When I was photographing the clouds for the series Cloudscapes, I experienced their movements almost like explosions. Each time I looked, they were bigger. I thought, how can I keep this movement forever? That's where I felt motion art could do something more than a still photograph. I would only use it with certain images where movement adds something: a flock of dancing starlings mirrored in symmetry, the Northern Lights moving across the night sky in Swedish Lapland, or flowers from my Flower Power series, frozen in a moment and slowly floating through the air."


What piece of Canon kit can you not live without, and why?

"The Canon EOS R6 Mark III. I haven't had it long, and I'm still exploring and experimenting with what it can achieve creatively, but the shutter speed is amazing. When it comes to photographing animals, the focus tracking is incredible. The way it captures light and the sharpness of the images are a real step up. It's beyond any camera I've used previously. Paired with the Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM or the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM, it gives me the range required for most images."


What else could we discover in your kitbag that helps you elevate your work?

"Sometimes I use reflectors when I want to add light to a small subject if I'm shooting macro. I always have a spare battery pack and a rain cover just in case. But, to be honest, the less that's in my bag the better I work. When I'm packing for a trip, I'm thinking, what can I leave behind? I take the minimum I need and if I miss something, that's fine. I'll just go with what I have."

"People think they have to add to a photograph to make it stronger but for me, photography is actually about the art of leaving things out. Instead of trying to bring more elements into the frame, give yourself the time to slow down, look beyond the obvious and see things differently. Then, when you have your subject, you need to remove everything that doesn't contribute to the feeling that you want to convey. It's a theme for me: less is always more. That's where silence begins."

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