Crossing Brook on Step-Stones with Fishing Pole and Can

Once experimentation moves into mass production, it is inevitable that some works suffer a decline in quality. Crossing Brook on Step-Stones with Fishing Pole and Can (1887) shows that Eadweard Muybridge envisaged an artistic role for moving images in our society, though it is quite baffling what he had in mind in this sequence. This chronophotographic series lacks both specialised mechanical movement and aesthetic appeal. The director set out to stage the process of a lady going fishing, stepping over stones to cross an imaginary brook. However, Muybridge inadvertently discovered that the camera is cruel to mental imagery, as once reality emerges in full display, there is little need to conjure additional details. This conflict signalled that the rules of photography were changing as they became components of a moving image.