Stroboscopic

A stroboscopic photograph is created by using an open shutter, a strobe light, and a moving subject-- each flash of the strobe light creates an exposure on the film of that specific moment in the movement, so the final photograph is a collection of moments in the movement. A master of this technique was photographer Gjon Mili (who we shall return to); today, some of his best. All photographs taken in his own NYC studio, as far as I know.

From the LIFE archives.

Ballerina Nora Kaye does a pas de bourree, 1947. Source

Gene Kelly does a dance sequence, 1944. Source

A little girl skips, 1941. Source

Ballet dancer Hugh Laing does a grand jete, 1944. Source

An FBI agent draws his gun and shoots, 1945. Source

Drummer Gene Krupka does his thing, 1941. Source

A woman golfs, 1946. Source

Alfred Hitchcock walks, 1942. Source

A woman in elaborate hat and jewellery turns her head, 1946. Source

A little girl walking and smiling, 1946. Source

A colour nude study, undated. Source

A woman drops her arm onto a bed, 1943. Source

Ballerina Nora Kaye leaps, 1947. Source

Dancer Ethel Butler performs, 1941. Source

Gene Kelly again, with a grande jetee, 1944. Source

Choreographer Martha Graham performs her own work, 1941. Source

A nude descending a staircase-- a brilliant nod to Marcel Duchamp's famous painting. 1942.  Source