American Natives photographed by Edward S. Curtis

Curtis' goal was to document as much as possible of the various groups of Native American people, their way of life and traditions.







There's often an element of Otherness evident in the photos taken by photographers trying to document people from cultures other than their own. I wonder how much different the photos of these people would have been if Edward S. Curtis had given the camera over to the people he wanted to document, and asked them to document themselves?