The mood of the photograph is quiet and pensive, and the young girl is posed looking back over her shoulder. The composition is unusual: Ulmann has placed the girl in a column of shadow flanked by two patches of shining light - a metaphor for the change in social status and rite of passage for Gullah children of this age. Julia Peterkin's book describes the Gullah beliefs:

Twelve is the age of responsibility . . . Under twelve a child is a "young child," and if he dies his soul will not fail to reach heaven, but twelve is the deadline age that changes a "young child" to an "old child, who "has sin" until he "seeks" by fasting and praying, abstaining from talk, laughter, and play, and "finds peace."

The mood of this photographic composition. is enhanced by Ulmann's choice of the platinum printing process, which produces a wide range of soft grey tones (in comparison with the darker greys of the silver print). The platinum process is also characterized by a matte, non-reflective surface, which in this work enhances the dreamy atmosphere of the image.