And Edgerton Said, “Let There Be Light.”

Roger Cicala at LensRentals posted this great piece about one of our favorite engineers: Harold “Doc” Edgerton

Today’s subject was the most prolific photo-inventor, ever. He had dozens of patents, and his patents generally were for groundbreaking new technology, not just minor refinements. No one, other than maybe Thomas Edison, worked in such a wide variety of fields. He won the Howard N. Potts and Albert A. Michelson Medals for scientific achievement and the National Medal of Science. He wrote dozens of scientific papers.

Best of all, he was a photographer before he ever invented anything, and remained a photographer his entire life. His images were included in the The Museum of Modern Art’s first photography exhibit, won a Bronze Medal from the Royal Photographic Society, and a short film won an Academy Award. He published books of fine art photographs.

He wasn’t just a great photographer and scientist. He just oozed all-around awesomeness. For example, when asked to provide a picture of himself, he created “Self Portrait with Balloon and Bullet.”

Read more here:


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2 Comments

  1. I believe I’ve seen other, color, prints of the "football kick" photo. It may have been a different photo, but the one I saw was also done by Edgerton. It is quite striking in color, as the Harvard player is in crimson socks.

  2. This photo is from 1935. The color version was done in 1938. There is a dye-transfer print from it at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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