A Sequence Of Photos By Doble

Public Domain Photo: From Muybridge's Human Locomotion Studies

In the 1880s Muybridge conducted his comprehensive study of human locomotion. He photographed the human figure moving naturally and doing a number of tasks. These photographs were taken on state-of-the-art high speed film and shot simultaneously from different angles. Muybridge's work can be thought of as a scientific study -- which would not be inaccurate. However, in his exploration of the human figure in motion, various frames reveal striking angles that make wonderful compositions involving the human form. To me, as a primarily candid photographer, his work when studied closely shows the best angles for natural movement, natural figures, -- as none of his work is posed. I own the complete set of Muybridge books published by Dover and spent several years studying them (not an exaggeration). Later in the mid-1980s I converted a number of his shots into an early form of computer and digital photography. Using my own system (I wrote much of the software) and a cheap Radio Shack computer, I copied selected frames and then colorised them. Now that I am working with a sophisticated digital camera 25 years later, his work still echoes in many of my compositions, such as thinking in terms of a series of sequential photos (see my series above) or in taking candid shots of the human figure in motion.