Eadweard Muybridge was famed as being the first person to create moving images but his influence has fallen far more into the realm of artist than film directors. He managed to create landscapes that where as technically accomplished and aesthetically pleasing as Ansel Adams, pioneering the way for photography as a serious art form.
These landscapes are a mix of the untouched romantic view of nature, the vast uninhabited tundra of Alaska and the mountains of the Yosemite national park.
Contrasting with his is his documentation of the modernisation of America, the building of the railway and the people, mainly Chinese labours, how built them.
It is also worth noting his inclusion of the indigenous population of America, in part this was due to their exoticism, and part propaganda against them. But it is not true to say he did not respect them, for instance he used the Native American names in some of his landscapes.

The focus of the exhibition was on his study of animals in motion, pictures of horses or people walking with a grid as a background. He showed movement from a scientific and objective point that is reminiscent of the Bechers photos of water towers. His subjects were depicted naked in an attempt to show them naturalistically and for their use as anatomical pictures for artist and physicians, but at the time the general public almost certainly viewed it as pornographic whatever Muybridge’s intention were.

Unfortunately these images were not as objective as Muybridge believed, he frequently showed the men doing athletic activities such as boxing and women doing less strenuous tasks such as bathing. This gender discrimination raises the question of the photographer’s ability to record objectively

Muybridge was a genius at marketing but what he sold most successfully was not his prints but the idea of the observational nature of photography. His early work was clearly modernist whilst his studies of animals in motion was evidently postmodern

Muybridge's work has influenced many artists, from Francis Bacon to the Becher school of photography. He was also a pioneer in make moving images and was highly technically accomplished and played a part in the emergence of both photography and cinematography.
His landscapes clearly inspired people like Ansel Adams whilst his studies of animals in motion could be seen reflected in the work of more modern artist. The question that remains hardest to answer is, is he a good modern artist?