I wrote those words “gridded on my mind” years ago in a short story, the protagonist describing herself as the antagonist’s Eadweard Muybridge, preserving him in her memory, serving as his stop-gap photographer.

Eadweard Muybridge. Funny name. The sequences of images a precursor to video.

Muybridge came to prominence when he captured the motion of a horse in 1872, proving that all four feet of the horse leave the ground mid-gallop, when the feet are tucked under the horse. I’ve always loved Muybridge photos. I adore seeing the dress of that era come alive again. The motion captured seems like it should have sound, the thwacking of a tennis ball, the tapping feet of a walking man, galloping hooves. Imagine walking into his studio, looking at the grid in front of which you would soon pose.

Check out Freeze Frame, a web feature on Eadweard Muybridge from the National Museum of American History here, or the staggering The Compleat Muybridge – Stephen Herbert writes a fun blog.

“LAWN TENNIS”
ANIMAL LOCOMOTION PLATE 298, 1887
COLLOTYPE, Smithsonian Institution