Manuel Caffini - Chronophotography

Manuel Cafini, the Italian based artist who captures motion in photography has just discovered an extension of chronophotography. Known as early Victorian motion photography, chronophotography combines several frames of movement into a single image. The pioneer of this type of photography was French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey who came up with it to describe photographs of motion, further used for the purpose of studying motion in science. A predecessor of modern cinema, this technique initially involved setting up a sequence of cameras to follow the subject moving.

Best known for accurately capturing and exploring the art of motion, Manuel Cafini slightly shifts from simply photographing dancers or the human body in the motion of falling to a very innovative and unique technique. In his extension of the original technique, only part of the subject replicates the frames of chronophotography. Here’s how the artist describes his innovation:

My technique is an evolution of this old technique, a modern interpretation. It’s a fusion of my previous technique with this old technique. Every single movement is visible and with this evolution the final figure is well defined.

Do you know of any other artist who have “played” so creatively with chronophotography?

Photo courtesy of Manuel Cafini