The photographic collection, rich in 100,000 negatives and positives depicting the world and its societies from the late 19th century to the present day, also reflects the way in which the ethnographic discipline has been built up within the institution. The initial collection was built up in 1901 with the scientific documentation of Eugène Pittard (1867-1962). Until the 1950s, this was supplemented by the work of his colleagues, including the anthropologist Ernest Chantre (1843-1924), the explorer Alfred Bertrand (1856-1924), the geologist Edgard Aubert de La Rüe (1901-1991) and the engineer William Briquet (1862-1920).

From the 1970s onwards, the collection developed with the generalisation of field missions and the images brought back by MEG curators, including those of the Africanist Claude Savary (1939-2014) or the Americanists René Fuerst (born 1933) and Daniel Schoepf (born 1941). Over the last twenty years, it has been further enriched by remarkable donations, such as that of Jacques Faublée (1912-2003) or Georges Bourdelon (1924-2000).

Since 2015, the acquisition policy has resolutely turned towards contemporary photography inspired by the themes of recent temporary exhibitions. The latter have made it possible to discover the works of Aurélien Fontanet (born in 1982), Michael Cook (born in 1968), Christian Lutz (born in 1973) and Fabrice Monteiro (born in 1972).