A Division of the Light by Christopher Burns Read Free Book Online

area where the sitters must pose was proportionately small. Two straight-backed chairs and a couch draped in Moroccan fabric were pushed against one wall. A circular object that couldhave been a reflector was leaning against one arm of the couch, and alongside this were two lightweight wooden frames, like painters’ canvases, one with a gray covering, the other with red. An aluminum stepladder had been closed and pushed up against a wall of ochre-painted brick.
    â€œI hope you weren’t expecting anything glamorous,” Gregory said.
    â€œMore spacious, maybe. And less crowded.”
    â€œIt would have been even more crowded a hundred years ago. This was a sweatshop for the rag trade. You can see that the walls, the floorboards and the windows are all original. The temperature varies a lot. It’s like living in a caravan.”
    Alice nodded. Men always talked too much when they wanted something.
    â€œWhen I first set up a business here I could only afford to rent this floor; I didn’t have the space downstairs. There was an old watchman—I took his portrait—but he wasn’t too reliable and there was always the chance of a break-in, so I kept my Hasselblad and my OM up there.”
    Gregory pointed up to the rafters. They were gloomy enough to appear unclean. A gray electric cable ran along the upper wall and connected some ceiling lights with fluorescent tubes.
    â€œI hid the cameras on top of that crossbeam so they couldn’t be seen from the floor. You needed a ladder to reach them. In those days most of the property round here was nearly derelict; nowadays everything is gentrified and this entire building is split up into little offices and studios. My immediate neighbor is a painter. I’ve seen his work loaded into vans by professional art transporters.”
    â€œYou work on your own?”
    â€œThese days, yes. To begin with there were two of us in business together. We used to do whatever we could get—fashion catalogs, holiday brochures, factories, boardrooms. I still do some work for a chain of expensive hotels. After a few years the partnership split and he followed his own path. I’m happier like this. If I’m exceptionally busy my daughter helps me—she can take a good shot if need be. Mostly the demand has grown in ways that mean that I often work far away from here. I prefer solitary work, anyway. I’m not one of those who are happy with a dozen people fussing around my feet all the time. Cassie’s official job is to deal with the bureaucracy; it’s an arrangement that suits both of us.”
    Gregory folded his arms and looked hard at Alice. She wanted to stare him out but instead had to turn away.
    â€œI thought you would have my photographs on show,” she said. “That’s what we arranged.”
    â€œThey’re on the next level.”
    On her arrival Alice had pressed the intercom to be admitted and Gregory had met her as soon as she stepped inside. He had indicated his office on the ground floor and then led her up the stairs to the second. Now she realized that he must have deliberately taken her past the room where his work was stored.
    As if he could read her mind, he spoke again.
    â€œWe used to have the floor below as a darkroom, but not any more. Most of us have had to go digital whether we like it or not, so these days everything is kept in picture files. For print copies there are a couple of professional inkjets downstairs that will do large format. For even larger copies or special papers I have an arrangement with two other studios. It makes economic sense.”
    â€œWhy did you bring me all the way up here?”
    â€œI thought it would be worthwhile to let you see where I work.”
    He took a single step forward, and for a moment Alice believed that he was about to reach out and touch her face. Instinctively she moved back an inch.
    â€œWhat made you think I would want to see it? Do you