done in Japan for many years according to this website - the oldest pictures of Japan.
Take a look at her photo blog and marvel.
*UPDATE*
or now I remember.
Now I know where I have seen this type of photography before,
Philippe Halsman (1906 - 1979)
did this in his portraiture images
from the 50's and 60's.
But maybe not as good.
“When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.”
Philippe Halsman