Beals began teaching at a one-room schoolhouse in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, where her brother Paul was also living at the time.

At the Exposition, Beals' interest in traveling and photography was sparked having met Frances Benjamin Johnston and Gertrude Käsebier.

[1] In 1899, Beals received her first professional assignment when she was asked by The Boston Post to photograph the Massachusetts state prison.

"[4] This position made her the first female photojournalist and was well-regarded by the papers and citizens of Buffalo and worked at the publications until 1904 when she left to take photos of the World's Fair.

[1][5] Photojournalism was physically demanding, often risky work, but Beals could be seen carrying out assignments in her ankle-length dresses and large hats, with her 8-by-10-inch glass plate camera and 50 pounds of equipment in tow.

There, Beals persuaded officials to give her a late press permit for the pre-exposition, climbed ladders and jumped into a hot air balloon just to get photographs that interested her.

[8] She was greatly interested in the Indigenous peoples which resulted in capturing many spontaneous images that did not necessarily fit into the predominant narrative of racial and developmental progress.

[9] She had a different style than most news photographers of the day, focusing on series of pictures that would later be used to write stories, rather than vice versa.

This initial encounter earned her a special pass to photograph Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at their reunion in San Antonio, Texas in 1905.