Eadweard Muybridge was born 9 April 1830 in Kingston upon Thames, died 8 May 1904. He was an English-American photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. At age 20 he emigrated to America as a bookseller, first to New York, and then to San Francisco.
Planning a return trip to Europe in 1860, he suffered serious head injuries in a stagecoach crash in Texas. He spent the next few years recuperating in Kingston Upon Thames, where he took up professional photography, learning the wet-plate collodion process, and secured at least two British patents for his inventions.
He went back to San Francisco in 1867. In 1868 he exhibited large photographs of Yosemite Valley, which made him world-famous.
In 1874 Muybridge shot and killed Major Harry Larkyns, his wife’s lover, but was acquitted in a jury trial on the grounds of justifiable homicide. In 1875 he travelled for more than a year in Central America on a photographic expedition.
Today, Muybridge is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion in 1877 and 1878, which used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography.
In the 1880s, he entered a very productive period at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, producing over 100,000 images of animals and humans in motion, capturing what the human eye could not distinguish as separate movements.
This is an example of Muybridge’s work. Although his images are not necessarily aesthetic, his images/innovations are very important because he was a bridge between still photography and recorded movement. He took the step into the visual world of motion that is still unfolding today. He made time visible in space.
This image shows a man lifting up some sort of circular object and looking ready to throw it. Due to the lack of ability to edit photographs during his time, it is clear that each image is a separate shot. But because of the development of photoshop I will aim to make the images look seamless.
This concept links to the theme of events because it portrays time and the motion of action required for an event to happen. The man is required to bend down and then angle the ball to throw it to get the result of it moving.
One of the main reasons I have been inspired by Muybridge is because of the way he has pioneered a completely new concept of photography and has proved so many things about the world, such as horses can lift all four feet off the ground, highlighted in the image below.
[SHOOT PLAN]
[STEP BY STEP]
[1/60, F4]
This photograph is of my sister with a blindfold on looking lost in my garage. This image presents a deeper meaning that fear is often derived from uncertainty and things we don’t know.
To portray this concept I had my sister wear a blindfold and make certain actions that provoke a sense of being lost. I think the cluttered background aids this shot because if it were tidy, it would ruin the dynamic of the image.
The hardest part about taking this image was finding a good composition, as I wanted to be able to fit multiple images of my sister in. In this shot I had my sister wear makeup and then smudged it slightly to provoke an emotional response from the viewer to feel sympathetic towards the person.
[1/160, F5.6]
This image is of my sister lying on a couch watching tv.
This shot related to the theme of events because I have portrayed the numerous positions someone may lay in while watching a film or tv show.
For this photograph I had to strategically compose my sister to make sure there were no overlaps, this was very difficult to do because although I could predict if there overlaps I couldn’t be certain.
I like the way I have positioned my sister because she ranges in height, thus making the overall image much more dynamic.
One difficult I faced was that my sister kept laughing thus making it hard to take a calming image.
[1/60, F4]
This photograph is of my sister eating meals you would expect she would consume throughout the day. Such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack.
To emphasise the stages I also got my sister to change into certain clothing, such as pyjamas at breakfast and school uniform at lunch time.
This relates to the theme of events because it portrays my sisters literal events through t the day. Initially I didn’t want the reflection on the table, but after seeing it I liked it so decided to keep it in.
If I were to take this shot again I would take it in the morning, around 10am, because as I took it later it began getting dark, which messed up the exposure.
[1/160, F5.6]
This image is of my sister in her bedroom, doing things she would normally do there, such as sleeping. Because of isolation, I was limited to the places I could shoot and only had the house accessible and had to take one of the shots in my sister room and it was hard to find an angle that worked well and allowed me to capture a wide span of subject matter.
I also struggled filling the frame so had to get my sister on the floor drawing. The angle of this shot is also off, which decreases its aesthetic value.
The only thing I am pleased with about this shot is even lighting because I took it at an appropriate time of day. Overall I don’t really like this image
[1/160, F5.6]
This photograph is of my sister reading in the lounge. With this shot I struggled composing the chairs because initially they were too far out and not in frame, so I had to bring them in. It was also challenging finding a good angle for the chairs.
In the images my sister used a variety of poses to ensure the shot didn’t become repetitive.
Despite the overexposed background, I think the lighting in this shot is good, but I could have benefitted from studio lighting to capture for intense variety of tonal values, which would make the shot more dynamic.
I used a tripod to ensure stability in my camera so that the editing process was seamless and all the shots were already lined up.
[1/60, F4]
This image is of my sister walking down the stairs. It was difficult composing this shot because the angle meant there was drastic size differences from position to position. To overcome this, I would look through the lens and ask my sister to make minute alterations to where she was standing to ensure no shots overlapped each other.
I used the flash on my camera to intensify the sharp stairs and capture more tonal values. The leading lines from the staircase lead the viewers eyes to the centre of the image and then downwards, with creates a sense of mystery and intrigue.
The image relates to the theme of events because it is a minor event many people do in their day to day lives without thinking about.