THOMASVILLE- The Wiregrass Gallery: Artist Co-Op welcomed Marci Oldenburg and her nature-inspired photography to the fold, exhibiting her art until July 31.

Oldenburg said that she has been drawn to art since she was young and doodling, but it was when she was going to high school in Germany at 17 that she found her first camera.

“This is something I’ve been doing since I was 17,” she said. “Before, I used to doodle a lot and then I found camera. There, things took off.”

Oldenburg said that she began with film, noting how expensive it was for a single roll of film, when it usually would only take an average of 10 good pictures out of the 35. She later began taking classes at the University of Maine after returning to the U.S, where she was able to use a dark room to develop film.

“I started with a film camera and then it was just taking pictures,” Oldenburg said. “As I went along, I found a photography class for developing, so I started working in the dark room to develop my own film.”

Learning about development, both the technical facets of photography alongside composition, she said that those classes taught her a lot about her craft.

“I learned a lot about the craft of photography during that time,” Oldenburg said.

Picking up a digital camera in 2001 changed everything.

“I went, ‘oh my goodness, this is amazing,’” she said. “So, from there it was digital. Since that time, I’ve maybe shot three rolls of film.”

Easily able to look back at pictures and see how they turned out while out in the field, Oldenburg said that programs like photoshop became her new dark room, although she said she tended to let her photography speak for itself without much editing.

“I want the original picture to speak so I don’t do a lot,” she said. “I do enough to enhance and make it visually appealing to myself and then from there, hopefully, someone else will find it appealing.”

Nature, she said, was her muse throughout her journey, from the woods and flowers to the slow retaking of the world by nature.

“I am inspired by a lot of different things,” Oldenburg said. “Nature is my muse; the woods, the flower popping up through concrete, it’s a lot of different things. Just what captivates me that day.”

A lot of her day-to-day hobbies and routines, she added, also make it into her photography and are reflections of her interests.

“I enjoy florals,” she said. “I grow orchids, I meditate, there’s a lot of different things I do besides that and I think it is reflected in my work.”

Having moved to Tallahassee recently from central Florida, she said that now that she has retired it was time for her flex her creative muscles.

“We moved here in December,” Oldenburg said. “I kind’ve retired and really work at my passion, which is photography, art, I’ve done beading in the past, I’ve always stayed busy creatively.”

Getting back into her old creative passions and new ones, Oldenburg said, has been wonderful.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “I have a very supportive partner so that makes everything so much, much better. I’m delving into some water color and beading again, which is something I did years ago, but the photography is my main focus.”

Getting involved with the Wiregrass Gallery through a call for photographers was an honor for Oldenburg, and she hopes everyone will see the time and effort put into the works on display.