Born in the 1830 April, Kingston upon Thames England. He moved to America at the age of 20, he stayed in New York until 1855 then to San Francisco where he became a successful bookseller. He changed his surname to Muybridge because he believed it was its original construction.
In 1860 Muybridge got into a stagecoach accident while traveling to the East Coast en route to England, he received serious Injuries to the head and suffered from double vision and confusion. The injury to his frontal cortex could’ve been the cause of some emotional and eccentric behaviour later in his life which was speculated by neurologists who examined the medical records. Muybridge became a photographer full time once he returned to San Francisco after finishing his convalescence. He made a wide range of panoramic landscape photographs some of which was of Yosemite Valley and in 1868 he travelled to Alaska to take photographs of Tlingit people.
In 1800 Muybridge’s work became more popular and was contacted to settle a bet by the Former California Governor Leland Stanford. Stanford believed that a running horse four hooves leaves the ground at the same time this was a discussion that raged on for years, and that the motion was too fast to be seen by the human eye. In 1872 Muybridge tried to prove Stanford right by taking photographs of a galloping horse in a sequence of shots but because there wasn’t enough evidence to his methods it couldn’t be confirmed with certainty. In 1879 Muybridge had proved the theory that horses do have all four hooves off the ground during their running stride, this was achievable because of Stanford findings and a new complex method of photographing horses by Muybridge.
In 1883 Muybridge produced thousands of photographs of humans and animals in motion when he was invited to carry on his research at the University of Pennsylvania. Muybridge published many books about his motion of photographs and travelled around Europe and North America, showcasing his photographic method with a projection device he developed called the Zoopraxiscope.
During his break in the 1870’s, Muybridge took photographic expeditions in and around California but on one of the trips his wife Flora had an affair with Major Harry Larkyns. He believed that Larkyns may be the father of his son so he tracked him down and killed him with a gun. In 1875 at his trial many witnesses testified that Muybridge personality had changed since the stagecoach accident but the jury dismissed the insanity defence but acquitted Muybridge on the grounds of “justifiable homicide”.
Muybridge died at his birthplace of prostate cancer in May 8 1904. His work on art and photography inspired other inventors such as Thomas Edison and Etienne-Jules Marey. His camera techniques allowed people to see things that are too fast for people to grasp, and his sequence still inspires other artists.
Muybridge took pictures of the moving animals and people by attaching strings to the cameras which was pulled with each movement.
Sara Fanelli
Sara Fanelli was born in Florence, Italy 1969 July the 20th, a native Italian British artist and illustrator who is most famous for her pictures in children’s book. She went to London to study Art at the College of art Camberwell but graduated at the Royal College of Art. She does illustration work, books, and self-generated projects.
She wrote and illustrated children’s books that were published in different languages and sold in multiple countries, she published a book called ‘The Onion’s Great Escape’ on the 1stApril 2012, and another book called ‘Mythological Monsters Of Ancient Greece’ published on 1stNovember 2002. Her books were rewarded the Victoria and Albert Museum IIIustration Award and other awards.
She made a poster design in 2003 and published a book in 2008 called ‘sometimes I think, sometimes I am’ but in 2000n for a postage stamp she won a D&AD Sliver Awards. She became the first woman to be awarded the honor to become an HonRDI in 2006.
The Circus Project 