The essay seeks to explore Juan Rulfo’s photographs from a perspective of magical realism, which is a traditional literary aesthetic style traditionally used in many Latin American novels rather than photos. Firstly, the essay analyses the possibilities of employing magical realism in Rulfo’s photographs from three perspectives. Secondly, it explores how magical realism is demonstrated in some Rulfo’s novels, El Llano en Llamas (1953) and Pedro Páramo (1955). Thirdly, the essay explores how to apply magical realism to analyses of Rulfo’s visual work. Meanwhile, this paper will also examine, through the magical realism in his photographs, how Rulfo demonstrates his concern for marginalised groups, his perspectives on issues of individual memory and collective memory, and his reflections on Mexican history. The essay aims to provide a new cross-media analytical method for contemporary photography analysis, while also prompting scholars and audiences to pay closer attention to the relevance of photography to other media. In this way the relationship between photography and history, memory, politics, culture and landscapes can be better understood.