Eadweard Muybridge
Muybridge was born on April 8, 1830. He was an inventor, filmmaker and photographer. He was born and raised in England and moved to New York, then to San Francisco. This is where he took interest in photography. Once he was out taking pictures, he learned that his wife had an affair. He murdered her lover and in court was equated with justifiable homicide.
There, he eventually took up the hobby full time and started to take photos in yosemite and Alaska. To help settle a bet the governor of California had he used a new experiment. Using 12 camera to capture a horse moving at different points of its gallop, he proved that a horse had all 4 of its hooves of the ground. He later Went to the University of Pennsylvania between 1883 and 1886 to produce more photos of man and animals in motion. He later toured Europe and North America to show off his works. Muybridge was unique in the fact that he used cameras to take multiple stills of people and animals in motion. These images allowed for the study of these movements in higher detail. He was also a pioneer in the art of film. He created a machine that would cycle through his photographs that was called the zoopraxiscope. This was a stepping stone in the creation of film as it allowed him to animate his images in a projection and have them come to life. His work was perhaps inspired by his passion in invention and greek mythology. His technical and scientific thoughts could have made him more curious on the movements of animals that are not visible to the human eye. His interest in greek mythology also could have been his inspiration for nature as he even took up the name Helios as a reference to the sun God. Peter Conrad from the online journal The Guardian, writes on Muybridge's work. He points out how instead of pointing out the grandiose of nature and its beauty, he focuses on the moving, wild and moving. Using his new way of taking a series of still images, he was able to provide an example of how photography is not limited to the still and motionless. Presenting time as a flowing force that is constant. Muybridge's ability to take moments from that stream and present them to the public. He points out how he photographs water and highlights its ability as a destructive force. With the ability to control sculpt canyons and rush through nature. He pioneered the world of still photography and was able to capture the new moments never experienced before. Muybridge would not have been able to to make his stunning still photos if he didn't have the wet collodion process that Frederick Scott Archer. This process allowed for faster exposure times that still maintained a clear image. WIthout this, Muybridge would not have been able to take his still photography that made him the founder of stop motion. |