As a former student of Clarence White and an active member of the Pictorial Photographers of America, Ulmann's early work was marked by the atmospheric and moody tonalities basic to pictorial photographs. After her divorce and subsequent resignation from the organization she met the folksinger and musicologist John Jacob Niles in the winter of 1927. In him she found the access to the mountain people of Kentucky she needed in order to gain their trust to photograph them. His introductions while they traveled together enabled her to work on this project. They worked closely together until her death in 1934.