The photographer’s curtain

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

When Mr Lyle’s photographic van entered our square, its scarlet sides drew a wake of children behind it. He descended in a silver-grey coat and surveyed the soot-dark shops as though daylight itself awaited his instructions. Within an hour, a velvet chair concealed the horse trough, a painted balustrade stood before the pawnbroker’s window, and the mayor was smiling beside a potted palm. I watched each alteration with delight. Before noon, I had decided that Mr Lyle saw more than ordinary people.

My reward was to hold a canvas curtain while he prepared a picture of the new fountain. The curtain stretched across the entrance to Weaver’s Court. Mrs Dain came up carrying a basket of wet linen and asked to pass. Mr Lyle did not look up from his camera.

“Take the long way. Those sleeves will spoil the elegance.”

She explained that the bundle was too heavy for the longer road.

“It will grow no lighter while you argue.”

At that, the compliments he had scattered all morning sounded to me like coins on a counter: bright, quick and belonging only to business.

He ordered me to pull the canvas tighter. Instead, I looked behind it. The court contained cracked steps, steaming tubs and children leaning from windows; it was noisy, crowded, alive. I let one corner of the curtain fall. Mr Lyle shouted as Mrs Dain passed directly in front of his arranged scene. I followed her into the court. For the first time that day, I chose where to look.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to show the narrator’s changing view of a visiting photographer. Support your answer with references to the passage.