- darkroomnounChapter 1 →
A room kept completely dark or lit only by a dim red light, used by photographers to develop film and print photographs without exposing light-sensitive materials.
“In his darkroom he is finally alone / with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.”
- spoolsnounChapter 1 →
Small cylindrical reels around which strips of photographic film are wound for storage and processing in a darkroom.
“In his darkroom he is finally alone / with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.”
- ordered rowsphraseChapter 1 →
Items arranged in neat, straight lines, suggesting careful control and deliberate organisation imposed on otherwise chaotic material.
“with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.”
- solemnlyadverbChapter 1 →
In a grave, serious, and ceremonious manner, as though performing a ritual of great importance.
- priest-likeadjectiveChapter 1 →
Resembling the solemn, reverent behaviour of a religious priest, suggesting the photographer treats his work as a sacred duty rather than a job.
- traysnounChapter 1 →
Shallow flat-bottomed containers filled with chemical solutions used in a darkroom to develop photographic film or paper.
- faintlyadverbChapter 1 →
In a barely perceptible way; here describing how a photographic image begins to appear only dimly and gradually on the developing paper.
“a stranger's features / faintly start to twist before his eyes,”
- half-formed ghostphraseChapter 1 →
An image that is only partially visible, not yet fully developed — like a shadowy, incomplete apparition emerging slowly from the chemical bath.
“A stranger's features / faintly start to twist before his eyes, / a half-formed ghost.”
- consentedverbChapter 1 →
Gave permission or agreement; here meaning the dying man's wife agreed to let the photographer take a picture of her husband's suffering.
- anguishnounChapter 1 →
Severe mental or physical pain and distress, the kind of overwhelming suffering visible on a person's face in a moment of crisis.
- supplementnounChapter 1 →
A separate section or magazine inserted inside a newspaper, typically published on Sundays, where photo essays and feature stories appear.
“although his editor will pick out five or six / for Sunday's supplement.”
- editornounChapter 1 →
The person at a newspaper or magazine who decides which photographs or articles are selected and published from a larger set of submitted work.
“although his editor will pick out five or six / for Sunday's supplement.”
- indifferentadjectiveChapter 1 →
Having no particular interest or concern; here describing readers who glance at images of suffering and then turn the page without being moved to act.
- black-and-whiteadjectiveChapter 1 →
Printed or photographed without colour, using only shades of grey, black, and white — the standard format for press photography of the era.
“a hundred agonies in black-and-white”
- agoniesnounChapter 1 →
Intense, extreme suffering — physical or emotional — experienced by people caught in war or disaster, here captured in photographic images.
“a hundred agonies in black-and-white”
War PhotographerShort story by Carol Ann Duffy