The Wood's Secret Garden

I am an artist and an illustrator—not a photographer. I spent most of my adult life in an office behind a computer during the day and doing something creative at night or on the weekends.   I was never fortunate enough to devote myself fully to my art.   Over the years, I probably have experimented in just about every aspect of the creative arts—both visual and performing arts.   However, I have never dabbled in photography until my husband’s daughter gave him (what I called) a “real camera” as a gift for Father’s Day back in 2016.   He graciously let me "try it out” and, poor guy, he never had it in his possession since then.   After retiring and moving to North Carolina in 2017, I really had (for the first time in my life) an opportunity to devote my daytimes to pursuing my creative gifts; and, like most things that I do, I gave it my all.   Over the past five years, I have taken and catalogued over 200K nature shots from our backyard alone.  It is f...