In 1887 Eadweard Muybridge photographed Nude Descending 
Stairs. His objective was to solve "the problem of locomotion 
with the aid of photography" (Muybridge, letter to La Nature 
in 1879). In this study he photographed a model walking 
downstairs with a series of cameras, evenly distanced in a 
row, parallel to a backdrop and to the model's course of travel. 
As the model passed each camera, she tripped the shutter, 
photographing herself in motion as she walked down the stairs. 
Because of the multiple camera set up, perspective in each 
of the eight photos is the same.  The effect is that the figure 
does not appear to walk towards us nor away.  There is no 
shift in perspective we would normally see in a movie or a 
series of photographs shot from a single vantage point.



The photos collectively do not have a single vantage point 
for the viewer. Each photo has its own vantage point since 
each photo was taken by a different camera. Because the 
cameras were set up on the same axis and in a row, each 
photo places the vanishing point (and therefore the viewer) 
in the same spot, in reference to each photograph. When 
they are seen sequentially, read from right to left, the 
vanishing point, and as a consequence the viewer, travel 
along the horizon line. The sequence of photos seem to 
make visual sense only if we physically move in parallel 
with the model, photograph by photograph. We feel an 
almost physical sense of self, moving in space.



Muybridge photographed sequences of action in everyday 
life that are difficult or impossible to observe. More 
importantly and perhaps unintentionally, he demonstrated 
that the viewer could be "moved" through space by 
pictorial means.