Muybridge Skipping (Hula Hoop)

Muybridge did a lot of motion studies on athletes running, jumping and other various tasks. I wanted include an image of this focus in my emulation studies. I chose his series of a women skipping rope. One thing I liked about this series is that he took the picture from several different angles to study all the areas of movement.

I did my emulation in the studio. I wanted to try lighting it using tungsten light so I wouldn't have to worry about the flash not firing fast enough. I didn't have a jump rope so I was able to find a hula hoop for Katie Murphy to skip with.  I liked using the hula hoop because I think it creates a strong implied circle border around Katie. I tried shooting Katie from the side, front and back. My series only consists of her shot from the side. The other angles were out of focus and I think they were less interesting. Since we were limited by the studio space, Katie is not covering any distance like the model in Muybridge's shoot. I think that is one of the reasons the front and back shots were less interesting to me. You have the best view of the hula hoop in the side angle and that is traveling the greatest distance.