Doris Ulmann did not think of photography as becoming her profession at first. She was planning on teaching psychology until 1918, when she decided to devote herself to photography as a profession. Doris was a member of the Pictorial Photographers of America, and her photography consisted of documenting the people of the South. Her work was shown in multiple New York art galleries and published in Theatre Arts Monthly, Mentor, Scribner's Magazine, and Survey Graphic. Her personal interest was taking portraits.
"...I have been more deeply moved by some of my mountaineers than by any literary person. A face that has the marks of having lived intensely, that expresses some phase of life, some dominant quality or intellectual power, constitutes for me an interesting face. For this reason the face of an older person, perhaps not beautiful in the strictest sense, is usually more appealing than the face of a younger person who has scarcely been touched by life," said Ulmann during an interview with Dale Warren.
Ulmann was born in 1882, and later died August 28, 1934.
Southern Mountaineer is one of my favorite pictures taken by Ulmann. I don't really know why. I guess it is the texture used in this photo. I like the way the man is looking into the distance and how it captures his personality in one shot, hardworking, tired, and trying his best to make some money for his family. Plus, of course, there's his big, white mustache. It's a little funny to me.
This is another piece of work by Ulmann called Two Men at Work. It is one of her more famous photos. This photos captures the life of Southern men in the early 1900s.
