It's now 1:45 AM in my time zone, and I've just finished uploading 840 bird images that I intend to put on my new site. Earlier today, I managed to get my transparent watermark finished to my satisfaction. (And thanks to "Redneck" for offering to help with that. He and I exchanged a few PMs and I knew he would do it for me if necessary, but in the end I was able to figure it out all by myself... and that felt great!) Tomorrow I'll refine keywords for the images uploaded today. Once my Bird section is finished (within a few days) I'll unveil the site, even tho other sections will probably still be empty.
What I really want to say is this: Leo's Symbiostock and Amanda's Clean Theme are wonderful! They function very well, individually and together, and they look great.
There is nothing complex about building a website with them. My difficulties since I started 4 days ago have been with PROBLEMS OF MY OWN MAKING: trying to integrate NextGen Gallery before I knew what I was doing with SYS, and trying to do something in Photoshop that I had no clue know how to do. Now that those problems are gone, the website is coming together beautifully.
So... mega-thanks to Leo and Amanda, and the rest of the development crew, and to everybody else on these Forums who have given me encouragement and the help I needed. I expect to add about 1500 images to the network total within a few weeks. Since my portfolio is a true "niche," I don't believe it will compete with other ports currently in the group.
I encourage everybody who's holding back to give this a try.
And Leo... put me at the top of the list for that Premium upgrade when it's ready!