The Photographer

The form of this work consists of three acts: a play with incidental music, a concert accompanying a slideshow of Muybridge's work, and a dance with musical accompaniment. In total, the piece lasts about 90 minutes.

Act 1 is a play that includes three incidental pieces of music that fit into the play. The play recounts Muybridge's murder of Major Harry Larkyns and the trial, with an irreverent tone.
The incidental piece "A Gentleman's Honor", includes words drawn from the actual trial transcript, commentary, and Muybridge's letters. It draws on the incident in which Flora sent Larkyns a portrait of Muybridge's son Florado, seeming to imply that Larkyns could be the father ('Whose baby is this'), and draws on the commentary of spectators ('All that white hair and a long white beard'), as well as referencing Muybridge's carriage accident and his later motion studies ('Horses in the air '). The phrases 'Artificial moonlight' and 'Artificial sky' may refer to techniques used by Muybridge in his landscape technology (overlaying clouds onto his images). Glass notes that he originally conceived the text of A Gentleman's Honor as based on a poem by Muybridge called "Circles", but Glass reconsidered and asked David Byrne to use material from the trial itself, as well as Muybridge's letters.

Act 2 is a violin solo, or "concert", that either features a figure representing Muybridge in the darkroom in the background or a slideshow of images by Muybridge. Critics have compared the see-saw sounds of the solo violin to a hoe-down or "early American" sound, although Glass claims this analogy was not necessarily intentional.

In act 3, the characters from act 1 return for a dance (including Muybridge, Flora, Larkyns, and Victorian bystanders). In some productions, the dance features photographs "developed" in the second half.