Animal Locomotion, Plate 63

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In 1878, using high-speed methods of his own design, Eadweard Muybridge proved that a horse lifts all four hooves from the ground simultaneously during its gallop. This singular achievement defined Muybridge’s career as a photographer as well as the trajectory of photographic technology and its artistic possibilities. He continued to produce serial photographs of animals and humans in motion in his multi-year study Animal Locomotion. For this undertaking, he crafted custom cameras with multiple lenses and exposures, as well as rapidly cascading time-based shutters. Muybridge is largely considered the father of motion pictures because he invented the zoopraxis—a device that provided an illusion that images displayed in quick succession were moving, similar to the effect of a flip book.

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