Eadward Muybridge and Exposure
After a conversation with David, he introduced me to Eadward Muybridge and sparked the idea of playing with the duration of exposure.
Eadward Muybridge was a photographer, born in the 1830s, and died in 1904. He was prolific for his photographs of landscapes of the Yosemite Valley, taken in 1867. With camera technology being so primitive at the time, he would climb the mountains with heavy equipment and would use the process of what is known as collodion wet-plate photography. Collodion photography was a technique in the mid 19th century that utilized glass to create negative images, which allowed photographers to print images on albumen paper.
In 1872, the former governor of California, Leland Stanford, placed a bet of 25000 dollars on whether a horse's 4 hooves, at one point, would simultaneously lift off the ground as it galloped. Stanford commissioned Muybridge for photographic studies. Photographic technology would be an issue in 1872. Muybridge used a single camera and would capture a blurred image of a horse, which wasn't indicative of an "airborne horse".
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| "Valley of Yosemite", Muybridge, 1867 |
The project would be adjourned due to horrific legal issues concerning Muybridge's personal life. He had discovered his wife, Flora, was having an affair, and shot her lover, murdering Harry Larkins. The legal struggle would conclude with Muybridge not guilty, as they found the homicide justifiable.
In 1877-1878, Stanford recommissioned Muybridge to conclude the horse debacle. This time, Muybridge would have access to more advanced technologies and set up a system that consisted of a row of tripwires that would activate a row of 12 cameras as a horse galloped through the setup, triggering every wire. This would end the debate over whether a horse's hooves lifted at a single point mid-trot. Visual artist and horse enthusiast, Meissonier, allegedly had cried when he saw the sequence of photographs. Nothing like this had ever been invented. A quick moment, faster than a human eye can process, had just been codified.
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| "The Horse in Motion", Muybridge, 1878 |
In Muybridge's later years, he would continue his practice of motion, and would play with gadgets at the time, such as the zoetrope, thaumatrope, and phenakistoscope--technologies that would simulate motion. Muybridge would create his own gadget called the zoopraxiscope. A device that would project a rotating disk with frames of an animated subject that would create an impression of movement as it gyrated.
In 1883-1887, Muybridge would conduct the Pennsylvania Project. He would photograph for locomotion plates with the aid of the Pennsylvania State University, providing Muybridge with subject matter and a place to work. He'd also visit hospitals and zoos to capture the irregular movement of hospitalized patients and study animal locomotion. He made a total of 100000 images, published as a portfolio, including 781 plates encompassing 20000 of the photographs.
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| Muybridge's Zoopraxiscope is housed in the Kingston Museum |
Muybridge would have an immense impact on how trotting horses are illustrated, leading to more accurate depictions of movement. More than that, Muybridge's studies and inventions would be the foundations of cinematography as a medium.
As I continue to think of ideas for my photobook, I am considering Muybridge's techniques. I want to explore bodies, but not limited to bodies. I want to investigate motion in a motionless medium by using exposure techniques to blur or freeze an image, such as using repetition and motion blur, and layered effects. Ultimately, my goal is to recreate what Muybridge had already done and expand on it.
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