About Blayne

Hi! I'm Blayne.

TL;DR

I'm an educator, photographer, creative nerd, and coffee snob. I own too many shoes, live with my wife and our three crazy dogs, and currently serve as the Dean of Learning and Communications at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.

I've written my about page/bio about 1,000 times over the years—I wish I were making that up. I'm not sure I've ever liked it. Then, when AI came along, I thought, "Great! I'm finally going to get one I like." And that definitely wasn't true. Despite the absurd amount of time I've spent researching AI, and despite having degrees in both history and computer science, I can't get AI to write like me no matter how hard I try. So, here I am, trying to do this while not being a great writer and disliking talking about myself.

Education was never on my bingo card. Photography wasn't really either, to be honest.

It was years before I was comfortable calling myself a photographer. I went to a workshop in Seattle and met some of the most amazing and supportive photographers. Those photographers changed my life. They helped me realize what photography meant to me and that being a photographer is just part of who I am.

Educators also changed my life. They saw something in me that I never did—I sense a trend. They supported and encouraged me when I was young, overwhelmed, and under-supported. It's something I'll never forget. It's something I try to give back to my students.

My education philosophy is "Teach Them." It was an accidental moment of branding genius—he tells himself.

When I was a faculty member, I was asked by my VC of Academics what my teaching philosophy was. I'd never thought about it before. After what had to be 27 minutes of silence, I said, "Teach Them." I came up with two words.

I started just talking about what I meant, and I slowly realized that I had a teaching philosophy long before I was an educator. I always explained things to people. I wanted them to understand, to learn, and it never mattered to me who they were, where they came from, or what their education level was.

When I was a programmer, I'd create a website or a system for a client, and then I'd record video tutorials on how to use the product. When I worked in healthcare IT, I would explain to people what caused the problem and what could be done to avoid it in the future. When I was a photographer, I wouldn't just pose people; I explained why they were being positioned a certain way, why I moved a light, why I changed a camera angle, what I loved about their outfit, and why it was all going to work.

When I was a little kid, I always wanted to know how things worked. I guess I still just want other people to know too.

I also build things. Nerd stuff. I build with code and sometimes a soldering iron. Nothing that requires a tape measure—nobody wants that.

I record a vlog, mostly because I love making video and definitely not because I'm good at it. I fly drones because they're just cameras that I can put almost anywhere.

I live with my wife and our three crazy dogs in downtown Batesville. Two of the dogs are clearly hers. I claim the old mean one—shocker!

I don't like it when people call themselves an "innovator" or a "disruptor." It is rarely true. I'm just me. I care, probably more than I let on. A lot of people helped me get where I am. Most of my work is just me trying to do the same for others.