Artists have always desired to see and study their moving subjects frozen in time.
The drawing below is Horse by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1503-1504. He did this work almost three hundred years before the invention of the camera in 1790's.
Before the photograph, artists had to study the anatomy of their subjects, observe them often, and sketch from life.
For things that were too fast for the naked eye to see, artists had to synthesize all of their knowledge from observation and make an educated guess.
Then, the art world was turned upside down by the photographs of Eadweard Muybridge. He invented new technology that stopped motion and revealed a surprising fact about horses.
Look at his Running (Galloping) series below and then read about the bet that led to his groundbreaking discovery.
THE BET written by the Agile Writer, Ken Padgett
For things that were too fast for the naked eye to see, artists had to synthesize all of their knowledge from observation and make an educated guess.
Then, the art world was turned upside down by the photographs of Eadweard Muybridge. He invented new technology that stopped motion and revealed a surprising fact about horses.
Look at his Running (Galloping) series below and then read about the bet that led to his groundbreaking discovery.
THE BET written by the Agile Writer, Ken Padgett
Because of Muybridge and the technical genius of many others, the long ago dreams and desires of Leonardo Da Vinci to represent horses in motion came to fruition in the animated film "Spirit".
Still, as advanced as we are today in the virtual world, the play "War Horse" required a low tech solution to create a believable horse that came to life on the theater stage.
Artists today have so many more resources available to them. This video of a cheetah running in slow motion allows us to not only see how the muscle structure moves and the positioning of the legs, it also allows us to use the pause button to select the most pleasing composition. Watch this and pause several times until you have discovered a pose worth freezing.
A master photographer merges technical know-how with an artistic sensibility.
Modern technology may make capturing motion easier than in Muybridge's day, but the camera does not make a great photograph by itself. As you could see from watching Steve Greer's photo shoot, there is a very high level of knowledge to aspire to and many ways to solve the problem of turning your photographs into art. But for our purposes as developing artists, here is an understandable and comprehensive tutorial for capturing movement with today's digital cameras.
Shutterbug.com
Now let's...
Go Further…Choose one project.
Green Track: Watch a slow motion video of an animal or person. Gesture draw at least ten different poses, advancing the video to create visually pleasing compositions.
Red Track: Research and write an essay about an invention that also has a colorful history like the Muybridge story. Or compose a story about how a challenge or problem led you or someone you know to come up with an innovative solution.
Purple Track: Working with a partner, create and give a slideshow presentation of 5-10 past and modern artists who used technology to portray nature/people/objects in motion.
Red Track: Research and write an essay about an invention that also has a colorful history like the Muybridge story. Or compose a story about how a challenge or problem led you or someone you know to come up with an innovative solution.
Purple Track: Working with a partner, create and give a slideshow presentation of 5-10 past and modern artists who used technology to portray nature/people/objects in motion.