The first panoramic photograph of San Francisco, taken in 1878 by Eadweard Muybridge, is quite an enigma. Muybridge was an influential photographic artist who was given credit for cutting edge new inventions like the Zoopraxiscope that served as a precursor to the modern day motion picture camera. This may be one of the greatest Old World photographs of all time, yet its impressive precision is matched only by its inexplicability. According to the official narrative, San Francisco went from a town of 10,000 to a city of 200,000 people with astonishing architecture within 30 years of the Gold Rush. How? Why are there no trees at all depicted on the town outskirts?

64-min. DVD