Eadweard Muybridge

Hello! My name is Eadweard Muybridge. When I was growing up, I loved adventures and seeing new things. My biggest adventure was with my camera! I was a photographer, which is a person who takes pictures. I loved taking pictures of tall mountains, busy towns, and interesting people. It was my job to capture the world one picture at a time.

One day, a friend asked me a tricky question: When a horse gallops, do all four of its hooves leave the ground at the same time? It runs so fast, nobody could tell just by watching! I thought, 'My camera is fast! Maybe it can see the answer.' So, in the year 1878, I set up a big experiment. I placed 12 cameras all in a row next to a racetrack. As a horse galloped by, it would trip little strings connected to my cameras. Snap, snap, snap! Each camera took a picture, one right after the other. It was very exciting to see if my idea would work.

When I looked at my photos, I saw it! For a tiny moment, the horse was flying! All four hooves were in the air at once. I was so excited! I even made a special machine to show the pictures very fast. When I did, it looked like the horse was really running. It was like the world’s very first movie! People still remember my galloping horse pictures today because they helped show how we could make pictures move. My work helped other people learn how to make the movies we all watch today.