The Invention That Made Time Stand Still

The Photographic Eye is devoted to helping you develop the most important skill in photography - your Vision

[mikeknapik]

Another great presentation! When I was active duty Air Force in the mid 60’s I was a motion picture photographer. My first duty assignment was at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. We did high speed mopic aerial work. Our fastest amera ran at 500 FPS. Exciting times for a 19 year old! As an aside, one of our mainstay cameras ran at 240 FPS, I can accomplish the same rate with my iPhone! Again thanks and keep up the good work!

[billbromer]

As a retired biologist, I find myself looking for the art in the science, especially in plants and I am drawn to macrophotography. As I continue to learn to see, it is so fun to experiment. As long as I don’t stick my finger in the fan or fall asleep in the office. Thanks for your videos, they are so fun and thoughtful.

[alyahyai]

I am a biologist & have always taken photos that combine art & science because they appeal to both communities 👍🏻

[TrevorEmahizer]

Harold Edgerton is from my hometown, where I still live. We actually have a science center named after him here and in the spire of our courthouse, a strobe light flashes all night to honor his achievements.

[richardlarsen]

That brought back some memories. Growing up in South Africa in the 60s and 70s with no TV broadcast I remember being so fascinated by the bullet cutting the card image. I even took a black and white photo of it with my Kodak instamatic to play with effects in the dark room. And the listening to the moon landing on the radio, then a few days later seeing the images in the newspaper. Finally seeing film of the landing a few weeks later on the news reel at the drive in. Sorry, gone on a bit.... nostalgia.

[banegool]

Initially NASA did not have a defined photography program. Apparently Walter Schirra who happened to be an avid photography nut, convinced NASA to let him take a Hasselblad 500c on his Mercury mission. NASA was so impressed that Hasselblad cameras and photography training became the standard for future missions.

[PhilipRanson-dt]

I was born in 1956 and space was an unlimited frontier of excitement.Photography defined this time for almost everyone.Great job, thanks

[Radiotexas]

My family have been in the professional photography business for over 130 years. My great grandfather was a pioneer Texas portrait photographer. My father ran the photo section at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo in the 1960s and 70s. He often traveled to Sandia in Albuquerque and Los Alamos. Back then NOBODY ever, and I mean EVER, talked about what they did at Pantex. He would barely even talk about it after he retired. Anyway.... I had the opportunity to go with him to a photography seminar in Albuquerque where there was a demonstration of the HyCam ultra high speed 16mm motion picture camera. The HyCam rep showed a motion picture of a #11 flash bulb firing. It was just incredible seeing the path of the electric charge travel up the leads and ignite the charge, Dad had met Dr. Edgerton and remembered him showing most of the photographs you featured. Without putting too fine a point on this subject, Dr. Edgerton's primary contribution to "high speed photography" was his invention of the stroboscope-- electronic flash. He stopped the motion with the high speed flash. Yes, he did invent early cameras but a lot of the pictures were simply single exposures on sheet film. Much more efficient motion picture cameras were used just before WWII in the Manhattan Project and even more, such as the HyCam and Hulcher Sequence Camera, were developed right after the war. One interesting thing is that it takes several seconds for the camera to get up to speed before the revolving shutter is triggered to record "the event." For example the HyCam cameras consumed a 400 foot reel of film stock for just a few seconds of "event!" Today, modern high speed digital equipment does the job. I'm pretty much retired now but in my career I have photographed just about everything and it was a great, if not always financially rewarding, career.

[alanbrown]

My Dad was an impromptu photographer.. Somewhere along the way i became a photographer who took pictures of laboatory prototype hardware.. I've always been attracted to macro photography. Thanks your video

[ChrisHunt]

What incredible images you have shared with us Alex. I have never thought about the scientific side before but now I will. Thank you. 🎉

[michaelmoorrees]

Harold Edgerton, the "E", in EG&G Corporation. A professor at MIT, and two of his students formed the company. The company started providing the service of high speed photography, and expanded into making specialty electronic components, such as the krytron, which was needed to detonate the chemical explosives precisely enough so that made the "implosion" type nuclear bomb (fatman) possible.

[grandpascuba]

I finally figured out why I like your videos so much. You are a “story teller” like me. Each subject you cover, you are compelled to share your thoughts. I love it. PS- there must be a US/UK language difference. I noticed that you pronounced Edgerton as “egg erton ”. In the the US we call him “edge erton”. 😅 keep it up! Love it!

[MachiningandMicrowaves]

I remember spending several nights in 1977 laying on the floor of a darkened room in our student house with two cameras, flashguns, timers, trigger wires and an air rifle, using wine and milk bottles as targets and getting amazing images of the pellets as they hit the glass, and of the shattering bottles. We didn't cover the floor very well and got into a heap of trouble about the glass fragments in the carpet. Totally worth it. I must try to find the negatives and scan them.

[andriescarstens]

This is a nice documentary about the use of photography in the sciences. Science would not be where it is, if not for the proof by means of photography. Being a scientific/industrial photographer for all my life at a university, this type of photography is my absolute passion. I never worked a single day for close to 50 years because of the joy of the profession. I always told friends that to be able to do the job properly, you need to know the science of photography very well, every facet of it, high speed, ultra violet, infrared, you mention it and we did it. We were on the edge to do Schlieren photography as well but the department could not get their act together. The only exclusion was medical photography which our sister department did at the medical faculty. And what about the beauty of double polarized light with stress patterns, you should look at that as well!! - Good to see this Alex!

[jordanmicahcook]

I think knowing the significance of these particular photos, as well as the sheer power that was within that initial plume of nuclear detonation, the fact that it was so hot for a fraction of a second that it made our sun seem frigid, makes the fact that someone from that era was able to capture such an infinitesimally small fragment of time all the more stunning.

[oneminutebugs]

'Doc' Edgerton was my inspiration to study scientific photography at University! When we use a camera with a flash we walk in the shadow of a giant. He pretty much invented modern flash 'strobe' lights.

[richardlong]

This is off topic but it struck me as I watched this video. The short clip during this video where a narrator was talking about fan blade cutting through a smoke stream brought back memories of this narrator who was used for many informational type short films of late 1930's to around 1960 when you didn't hear him any longer. This narrator had a somewhat unique American accent that wasn't all that common but you'd still hear it when was growing up in the 1950's and 60's but this American accent has completely disappeared in todays US and the only reason I wrote this ws because I fully remember some people sounding this way besides this particular narrator which I remember him well.

[L.Spencer]

I was at the eye doctor today and asked what kind of camera takes pictures in my eye. She said it is a laser. I don't know how a laser can take a picture, but I also don't understand how sound can travel on a copper wire. Fascinating.

[DavidFlowerOfficial]

I'm also a child of the 80's (born '77), fascinated by the whole nuclear thing and also had those books!
Incredibly high speed cameras have always been incredible tools and seeing the world at fractions of seconds is quite honestly mind blowing to me.
Another great video.

[randy]

Not only were the photos beyond amazing, but this whole video was a 14 min art piece that I thoroughly enjoyed!!!Beautiful work 👏