Flight of a gull - Fusil Photographique
Etienne-Jules Marey, 1882

Links
http://web.inter.nl.net
http://www.expo-marey.com

Marey uses the astronomer, Jules Jansen's principles of recording planetary movement and applies it towards capturing human locomotion thus using a camera to photograph an entire cycle of movement. The instrument he uses to record the motion resembled a gun like structure that contained a round rotating glass disk working as a Phenakistiscope motion wheel that allowed to take 12 shots of postage stamp sized pictures.

I found the work interesting because of how it lay the foundation for future pictures in motion. Also, there are still interesting possibilities of the technique to be experimented with and to incorporating it in new media art. Toshio Iwai, for example, has also used the method in his earlier work.

Submitted by
Katalin Banlaki

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