The Stories Behind These Iconic Photos

Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge, 1878

photographer Eadweard Muybridge was hired by Leland Stanford, then governor of California, to shoot a portfolio of his mansion and his racehorse, as well as a picture depicting one of his horse at full speed. Muybridge struggled to get the right picture – he knew that when horses gallop, they have all four feet off the ground, and he was determined to get that right.

He ended up working on this project for six years, only to get it right. Until this point, when depicted by artists, horses were drawn with one feet on the ground during their gallop. Muybridge’s sequential series of photographs became so iconic since it told the truth about the horse’s stride. His photographs also became a part of the first motion picture.