photography

Milk Drop Coronet, Harold Edgerton

“The strobe light was an obscure piece of laboratory equipment before MIT professor Harold Edgerton got his hands on it and turned it into a common tool. Every flash camera has one nowadays, thanks to him," says photography curator Eric Paddock.

"Edgerton’s improved strobe could create a burst of light so short and so bright that he could create a photo of something that could not be seen with the naked eye. Yet his work was about much more than just stopping time; Edgerton had a real sense of beauty and drama.”

Milk Drop Coronet is on view in Exposure: Photos from the Vault from April 30 through October 31, 2010.