In 1872 Leland Stanford seeks the help of photographer Eadweard Muybridge to prove his theory: that horses while galloping have a point in time, having all four hooves above ground. And Muybridge accepts.
The earliest specimens seem to justify Stanford’s theory, but because of the flaws in Muybridge’s technique, this cannot be proven with certainty.
The experiment is interrupted when Muybridge kills his wife’s lover. He was tried for murder, but acquitted.
In 1877, he returns to the experiment, photographing Occident. Stanford’s award-winning racing horse. Muybridge mounts cameras with a very fast shutter along a race track. And the photos finally prove that Stanford was right.
Muybridge then develops his technique using more cameras and more sophisticated ways of releasing the shutter, photographing animals and people on the move.
