Edward Muybridge

Edward Muybridge was an author and bookseller, chemist and one of the most famous photographers of all time. He was born on the 9^th of April 1830, and died the 8^th of May 1904.  At the age of 20, Muybridge immigrated to America in the 1950’s working as a bookseller, where he acquired an interest in photography in 1855. After studying photography, he became one of the first English photographers. He had a huge impact and influence on and stop motion and is one of the most influential photographers of all time.

During a break from his photographic research in the 1870s, Muybridge took several photographic expeditions in and around California. On one of these expeditions, Muybridge met his wife Flora, she was just 19 years old and in 1872 they got married; However his wife had an affair with a man who was called Major Harry Larkyns. Muybridge believed that Larkyns had fathered the couples recently born son.  Obviously Muybridge wasn’t happy about the situation and tracked him down. For what he did, Muybridge shot and killed Larkyns, but at his trial for murder in 1875, a number of witnesses testified that his personality had changed after the accident, and was proven not guilty.

Eadward Muybridge had lots of different professions, he was a successful bookseller and chemist before he became a photographer; he unlocked the secret of motion. He drew inspiration from other artists like William Keith; even today other artists and photographers still use the same technique that Muybridge used to capture stop motion all those years ago. Between the years 1878 and 1887 Eadward Muybridge used photography to capture the movement of horses and he captured it in a way that no one ever did before. He proved that a horse lifts all four hooves off the ground. By doing this he used a total of 24 cameras and lined them up to capture the right image; he got a galloping horse to trigger the shutters so Muybridge could capture the perfect image. He eventually invented the zoopraxiscope, this was like a projector, it projected animated versions of his photographs as if it was moving, which eventually anticipated developments in the history of cinema. Muybridge then worked at the University of Pennsylvania between 1883 and 1886, producing thousands of photographs of humans and animals in motion.

However the biggest breakthrough in Muybridge’s life was when Muybridge was involved and a severe accident. While in Texas, he suffered severe head injuries in a stagecoach crash, which injured every passenger that was on board. Muybridge was lucky enough to survive the crash but he never went back to how he was before. He hit his head on a hard rock and wasn’t the same since. However after the accident Muybridge’s life flashed before him, he was seeing double of everything and this inspired him to study photography after he recovered. He was always trying to reinvent himself; he changed his named at least 4 times in his life. His name changed from being Edward James Muggerbridge, to eventually it was changed to Eadward James Muybridge.

Edward Muybridge died oin 1904 where he was born, His contributions to animation and photography inspired many people.