The quest to capture the movement of a horse, which the human eye could scarcely follow, spurred a photographer to pioneer the creation of the very first moving image.
Horse painting reached its zenith in the 19th century when horse racing became a popular sport. However, despite their best efforts to depict the action of racing, many artists found themselves grappling with a lack of understanding about horses, particularly their galloping motion. Horses moved so swiftly that their gaits eluded human vision, making artistic representations reliant on imagination. By the end of the 19th century, a significant shift in how horses were portrayed by artists occurred, as noted by Amusing Planet.
In 1872, industrialist Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford University, commissioned the Anglo-American photographer Eadweard Muybridge to photograph his beloved horse, Occident, in motion. At that time, photography was a slow process, requiring several seconds of exposure to capture an image. Consequently, subjects had to remain still during exposure, leading to blurring of anything in motion.
Initially, Muybridge doubted the feasibility of capturing a clear image of a moving horse. However, after experimenting with various equipment and chemicals, he achieved surprisingly satisfying results. Muybridge’s experimentation was interrupted for two years due to accusations related to the death of his wife’s lover.
Returning to work for Stanford in 1876, Muybridge continued to refine and perfect his photographic process. Shortly thereafter, he successfully captured an image of Occident racing with all four hooves off the ground. Stanford was thrilled and persuaded Muybridge to use multiple cameras to produce a sequence of images showcasing the horse’s full gallop. This time, Muybridge was asked to photograph another of Stanford’s horses, Sallie Gardner.
Capturing the action of a galloping horse proved to be no easy task. Muybridge needed to take numerous photos in a short span, each with an exposure time of only a few thousandths of a second. To achieve this seemingly impossible feat, Muybridge employed 12 custom-designed cameras, arranged in a line like cannons parallel to the horse’s path. Each camera’s shutter was triggered by a horizontal wire across the track, activated by the horse’s legs. As the horse galloped past the wire, the successive shutter sounds formed a rapid-fire sequence reminiscent of a machine gun.
Muybridge’s short film was the first to capture the fleeting details that the naked eye could not perceive at high speeds, such as the position of the legs and the angle of the tail. His groundbreaking achievement confirmed that when a horse is fully airborne, its legs retract underneath the body rather than extending forward and backward. He also prepared a short clip using 12 still images captured with a device called the zoöpraxiscope, an early film projector. This 2-second animated clip, titled Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, is considered the world’s first motion picture.
Muybridge’s accomplishments garnered worldwide attention. As he seemingly captured the limelight, Stanford sought to discredit him. Subsequently, the Royal Society of Arts, which had previously offered to fund Muybridge’s animal motion photography research, withdrew its support. Muybridge eventually sued Stanford, but the case was dismissed.
Seeking new sources of funding, Muybridge found support from the University of Pennsylvania. Under the university’s patronage, Muybridge produced tens of thousands of photographs of people and animals in motion. This extensive collection was published in a massive catalog, featuring 780 plates and 20,000 images. Muybridge’s research made significant contributions to the development of biomechanics.
