In this paper about the photography of the Salesian Mission of San Rafael we will present a reading about the forms of dwelling and the ways of representing such dwelling. Considering the photographic image as a mediation between a reality and its reconstruction, our aim will be to reflect about photography as a specific production about the natives and their ways of dwelling. The images were taken in the space of the mission, and our questions are what is photographed, what is omitted, and what is reinforces in these representations of the indigenous peoples.