Abstract For most people the image of Native Americans has been defined primarily by John Wayne movies and the Buffalo nickel. The image of the “Redman”, whether noble or savage, has become a distorted and seldom challenged part of the American myth. The existence of such a situation is partly the result of ignorance. It is also partly the result of racism, for the story of the way non-Native Americans have dealt with Native Americans is not a pretty one. We have seen Native Americans as we want to see them, rather than as they were and are. One factor in shaping our concepts has been the still photograph. Photographs were taken for a variety of reasons, and the examination of some examples raises numerous questions about the “reality” of the images of Native Americans as well as about photography's role in capturing or influencing those images.