Yesterday’s New York Times has a story on an unusual approach by Mardi Gras Indians to monetizing their suits – they’re copyrighting them. An age-old thorn in Indians’ side has been the belief that photographers are making money off of images of their costumes, but they don’t get a piece of the action – an anxiety that’s heightened by the cost of making the elaborate suits and many of the Indians’ economic status. As Monk Boudreaux once told OffBeat, many Indians have to choose between paying their Entergy bill or finishing their suit, and they’d choose the suit.

Since none of the photographers we deal with are getting rich, much less doing so from photos of Mardi Gras Indians and second lines, I suspect that the argument has more to do with a lack of understanding of the photo marketplace and a belief that inequities exist than a genuine untapped source of potential wealth. Still, the idea’s a provocative one, and far less crazy than some of the other ideas that have been bandied about.

It’s also worth thinking, though, about the relationship between photographers and Mardi Gras Indians. Like Jazz Fest, photos of Mardi Gras Indians have helped make people around the world who’ve never seen them on Fat Tuesday aware of them and their practices. Though the festival and photos take them out of context, it’s fair to wonder if the attention they’ve drawn to the tradition is one of the few things that have kept the city and the police from stamping it out. NOPD’s actions in recent years suggest that it has little respect for the tradition and would end or neuter the Indian tradition if it could.