Bayard Wootten (Mary Bayard Morgan Wootten) (1875-1959) was one of the South's most prominent early female photographers. She attended the North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School where she initially pursed painting but later switched to photography in 1904. She was a follower of pictorialism, which emphasized artistic content instead of technical quality. She began receiving recognition for her photography in 1928 when she moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Some of Wootten's most famous photographs were of Southern blacks and Appalachia in the early 20th century. She eventually settled into commercial photography, and is known as the first female member of the North Carolina National Guard and the first female aerial photographer. She retired in 1954.