Edward Sheriff Curtis was an American photographer and ethnographer who devoted himself to documenting the native peoples of North America. He captured human figures, native customs, building structures, and artifacts with great detail and clarity, making his photographs a resource for anthropological studies. However, here in Shores of Puget Sound, one can hardly identify the figures or see canoe’s details; instead, nature has overpowered Curtis’s ethnographic project.

Five people, seemingly adults, and children are on a canoe, with only a few of them paddling the boat with oars. The figures seem emotionally removed and are situated distantly from each other. The stillness of the figures on the boat is contrasted with the turbulent clouds and the rugged surface of the ocean that surround them. In accordance with Curtis’s usual scientific composition, the object in the quasi-center is the most obvious and brightest element of the image. However, the boat is in shadows and communicates tranquility to the viewer.

Thus, the image has transcended its scientific value by soliciting an appreciation of the beauty of nature. The forms and shapes of the clouds are revealed by a natural chiaroscuro, and their dominance over half of the image adds a great value to viewers’ aesthetic pleasure.