The article is devoted to photography in the work of the transnational emigrant artist Walter Spies. The authors highlight the prerequisites for the artist‘s appeal to photography, analyze the stylistic features of the master‘s photo illustrations for the publications «The island of Bali: its religion and ceremonies» (1931) and «Dance and Drama in Bali» (1938), as well as the ethnographic film «The Island of Demons» (1933); identify common features of the creative method of W. Spies and one of the founders of constructivism A. Rodchenko.