This article studies the group of photographs by José Gómez de la Carrera, active in Cuba between 1885 and 1909, which entered the University of Navarra Museum Collection in 2018. With a multidisciplinary approach (heritage studies, art history, visual studies, and history of education), the article addresses the photographs as a visual testimony of important technical, political and cultural changes. After presenting the biography of the photographer – a pioneer of photojournalism and an outstanding war journalist – we study the material, technical and visual characteristics of the subgroup of photographs taken when he accompanied Carlos de la Torre on his scientific expeditions in Cuba. The essay describes the historical and cultural role of these images, which became part of the visual repertoire of the time through educational projects. Taken in a context of struggle for independence, and visually reliant on parameters forged in Romanticism, eventually these photos were featured widely in the first geography textbook of the island for use in primary schools, which, through multiple editions, contributed to the formation of the territorial image of the new Republic.