Eadweard Muybridge (British, April 9, 1830–May 8, 1904) was born Edward James Muggeridge, in Kingston upon Thames, England. He was a photographer known for his pioneering work in animal locomotion. Using multiple cameras between 1877 and 1878, Muybridge captured this motion in stop-action photographs. Muybridge also created the zoopraxiscope, a device used for displaying motion pictures. Muybridge was also known for landscape photography, and, in 1873, he was commissioned by the United States Army to photograph the Modoc War. Muybridge was a pioneer of the Motion Picture Photography Movement. The artist moved to San Francisco, CA, in 1855, and started a career with the London Printing and Publishing Company as a bookseller and publisher''s agent.

In 1860, Muybridge was injured in a stagecoach accident. Between 1862 and 1866, while recuperating in England, Muybridge became interested in professional photography. During this time, Muybridge may have been influenced by photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (British, 1815?1879). Muybridge learned the wet-plate collodion process in England, and, during his stay, he secured two patents for his inventions. On his return to San Francisco, CA, Muybridge converted a light carriage vehicle and used it as a darkroom. In 1880, while at the University of Pennsylvania, PA, Muybridge produced over 100,000 pictures of humans and animals in motion. His work influenced many visual artists who joined the formidable Motion Picture Photography Movement.

In 1884, Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (American, 1844?1916) worked as an assistant to Muybridge, learning more about motion pictures and subsequently making great contributions to the Motion Picture Photography Movement. In 1872, collaboration on photographic studies between Leland Stanford, the California governor and founder of Stanford University, and Muybridge led to the development of a camera with better shutter speed, and to the successful photograph of a horse at a trot. In 1887, Muybridge published his groundbreaking series of 20,000 photographs in a collection titled Animal Locomotion: An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Connective Phases of Animal Movements. This work led to developments in the science of biomechanics. In 1888, Thomas Alva Edison (American, 1847?1931) was inspired by the work of Muybridge; Alva went on to invent the motion picture camera. In 1894, Muybridge returned to England permanently, and published two books that became hugely popular: Animals in Motion (1899) and The Human Figure in Motion (1901). Muybridge died in Kingston upon Thames in 1904.