Reading response Rebecca Solnit, The Annihilation of Space and Time"

Edward James Muybridge’s scientific photography discovery dealing with space and time, changed the world dramatically. With his work, humans were able to simulate life in a way that they had never been able to do before. I am personally honored to have such a significant discovery occur in San Francisco, California. I am so glad Muybridge realized that there was something beyond his answer to Leland Stanford, minor scientific question and realized that the project had broader possibilities and was able to get support from Leland Stanford for his research and development. I get the impression that Muybridge was a pretty persuasive and driven man from his discoveries and his ability to get support for his ideas and becoming a very well-known artist in the late 1800s and today. Muybridge changed his surname twice, to Muygridge in the 1850s and to Muydridge in the 1860s. I feel this action is a bold move. He also said that he was going to "revolutionize photography" with the technology he developed which, he did. I feel, to have that much confidence in yourself before he actually had delivered, is amazing. When I look at the abolishment of space and time from my personal standpoint the ability to split a second, and capture photographs at a faster ratio than ever before was the beginning of creating extremely powerful use of photography. Before Muybridge’s discovery if someone saw to or three photographs of a horse running they may conclude that the horse was galloping or running. After Muybridge’s discovery people had the ability to view several photographs of a horse that were taken in shorter time than ever before which is basically the forerunner of the moving picture. The moving picture takes some value from the individual image and puts it more on the series of images. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing or true in every situation but I think it is something to be considered as an artist that uses still photography and video. The railroad was a huge transformation that allowed humans to ship goods and people faster than before which had a shrinking effect on the country because of the speed of the locomotive. These advances, I feel, helped people be ready for Muybridge’s discoveries.