A group of Bhutias

This group of Bhutanese and Tibetan men and women stand in front of what appears to be a warehouse, presumably filled with crates of tea. The subjects are collectively labeled Bhutias, a people of Tibetan origin who migrated to northeastern India and to Bhutan in the 1400s.

Samuel Bourne recorded them in a photograph characteristic of his style. He restricted his frame so that any anomalies that might have disturbed the balance of the image were eliminated. This group is arranged in his favored triangular composition: Viewers first see the Bhutia woman standing off-center before dropping their gaze to the other figures.

Bourne sought a similar order in his landscape photography, although he felt Indian scenery was "not so beautiful or so well adapted for the camera" as the British landscape.