Muybridge Human Locomotion, Athletes Posturing, 1881. Photograph shows fifteen consecutive images of men doing acrobatics, gesturing, and posturing. Eadweard James Muybridge (April 9, 1830 - May 8, 1904) was an English photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection. He published two popular books of his work, Animals in Motion (1899) and The Human Figure in Motion (1901), both of which remain in print over a century later. He died in 1904 at the age of 74.