West Forsyth Neighbors Feature Article

It all began in the late 80’s with a mini schnauzer named Teddie, a completely spoiled and pampered pup who found herself in Atlanta with her impulsive yet doting person, Blayne. A Contempo Casuals store was opening at the somewhat remote and brand new Town Center Mall, which at the time was completely surrounded only by Georgia’s signature red clay, and Blayne was excited for her new adventure setting up the store. It was a time of fringe cowboy boots and a network of mall workers who met at day’s end in the local restaurant/bar to commiserate about the woes of dealing with the public. Enter Linda the body builder, whose mini schnauzer liked to walk at the same time as Teddie, and who invited Blayne out to dinner. When Blayne arrivied, Linda threw a leotard at her and said, “Bring your checkbook. We’re going to workout.” Sorely disappointed but ever spontaneous, Blayne tagged along to the Holiday Fitness at Lennox Mall for a sample workout. Figuring she had plenty of free time on her hands, Blayne succumbed to the high pressure sales presentation, wrote a check, and joined the gym.

It was at the leg curl machine at Holiday Fitness that Blayne and Bryan had their meet cute. “Hi, I’m Bryan. I’m one of the Sales Managers here.” An extended hand, an embarrassed smile, a little awkward chit chat followed. “Do you like to dance?” Blayne blurted. “Sure,” said Bryan. At the end of the workout, Blayne invited Bryan to meet up at a dance club with some friends. Bryan asked Blayne to save him a dance, or two, or three. The story almost ended here, as Bryan was so late to the meet up that Blayne was walking out of the club to head home when he saw her, swept her up in a hug and apologized for being late. His wing man had set up two other sets of girls to meet at two other clubs, and then Wing Man didn’t want to leave the previous club. They ended up dancing until the club closed, then chatting in the parking lot for hours - until about 3 am.

On Bryan’s first visit to Blayne’s apartment for dinner, Blayne explained that he would have to pass the Teddie Test. If Teddie didn’t take to Bryan, he wasn’t coming in. He passed the test, and more importantly, the next. Blayne, not knowing that Bryan couldn’t stand spicy foods, had prepared her signature dish of spicy shrimp and steak, which Bryan choked down admiringly. But when they got to the homemade biscuits, Blayne realized that in her nervousness of cooking for someone new, she had mixed up the measurements and the biscuits were completely inedible! Bryan claimed they were great and ate two. After taking one bite, Blayne exclaimed they were horrible and threw the rest in the trash.

After that, the couple was as inseparable as their retail jobs would allow, spending their time exploring Atlanta’s art scene, grabbing free hors d’oeuvres and drinks at receptions because they were broke, and sharing their dreams. Bryan was an artist at heart, having an art degree from LaGrange College, and Blayne wanted to do something adventurous and different, but wasn’t exactly sure what that looked like. Six months later, Bryan had a job offer to open fitness clubs for a new company and in true romance novel style, asked Blayne to get married and go with him, leaving retail behind. He promised beaches in the Turks and Caicos, lots of kids in a station wagon and travel to far off lands. Blayne accepted. The newlyweds lived briefly in Alabama and in a tiny beach cottage for a few months in Florida, only to return to the Atlanta area when Bryan’s company owners turned out to be spending more money on corporate jets than paying their employees. The couple moved back to Atlanta with no specific plan.

It was Teddie again, who brought the couple to Forsyth county and their first custom home on Lake Lanier. Blayne and Bryan dreamed of designing their own studio home, where they could live, work and raise a family, but didn’t have much of a budget. While exploring the GA 400 corridor at what seemed like the end of the world (exit 14), Blayne got out to walk Teddie near a real estate trailer in front of a newly promised neighborhood, and that was where Bryan found Wiley, a builder with a lot to sell. He was willing to take a chance on the eager young couple who had found their way to his temporary office on the side of the road. For the next several years, Blayne went back to retail management and Bryan tried quite a variety of jobs, from working on a state of the art mind blowingly expensive graphic tablet for a graphics company, to moving boxes in a warehouse, all the while trying to figure out how he could make a living as an artist. He had an art show in Atlanta, but nothing really took off after that. Bryan would tell stories of how he had put himself through college working for a local wedding photographer. Blayne had a knack for organizing and an interest in becoming a wedding planner, and one weekend, she suggested that Bryan look into doing weddings on his own. Cue the lightbulb. Bryan picked up the phone and started calling contacts and strangers, offering free photography to build a portfolio. His dad loaned him $3000 to purchase a used large format camera.

Their first wedding was one of his brother’s college roommates for $600 and was booked on a handshake. Both Bryan’s sales training and Blayne’s retail background were the perfect fit for a plucky new photography studio. Blayne continued to work second jobs to pay the house payment while Bryan was building the business. It was when they received a mysterious letter in the mail, touting a new software program that allowed photographers to completely design a wedding album on a large screen TV instead of the then tradition delivering of wedding proofs. Blayne, the business and computer side of the business, immediately saw not only the potential for larger sales, but also the ability to offer something no one else in the entire southeast had - a wedding story that could be seen and experienced right after the wedding. The only problem was the software and custom computer was $14,000. Unthinkable for a young business with limited funds. But Blayne and Bryan were determined to take a chance and were able to get a small business loan (instead of buying a new car).

This gamble proved to be the biggest turning point in their business. Seemingly overnight, wedding contracts went from $700 to $7000, and Whitelake Studio (the name chosen quickly and without much thought) was booked for weddings two years into the future. Blayne and Bryan sometimes photographed two weddings per weekend, and soon Blayne was able to leave her second job and work for the studio full time. Bryan’s skill at cold calling and speaking with anyone, along with his artistic eye brought in the customers and word of mouth was powerful in the tightly knit community of Forsyth County. Luckily, Blayne also had a knack for accounting, Photoshop, and marketing, so she took over the back end of the business, from meeting with the couples and designing their wedding albums, placing orders, to implementing studio management software. They were building a true business. Forsyth County was their home.

For several years, the Whites were very active in their state and national professional organizations, Professional Photographers of America and Bryan loved competing with his peers. He won Photographer of the Year several times, was a speaker at the national level, and Blayne won a national award for her marketing materials designs. Bryan won so many awards that his photographer friends would call before convention to see what categories he was entering, and joked that they would enter a different category for a chance to win. Bryan was known as the first to combine painting with photography for his client work and some of his artworks traveled along with world with Kodak and Fuki. Bryan also loved to mentor other photographers, and gave lots of his time to others interested in his field, some of whom opened competing businesses in the Forsyth area. He still loves to share ideas and his love of creating with like minded people and one of his favorite pastimes is working with interns discovered from local Forsyth County schools. While the beaches and thank goodness, the station wagon didn’t quite materialize, Blayne and Bryan built quite a successful life from their art and sales backgrounds.

Today, Bryan White Photography + Art, as it’s now called, is celebrating its 30th year in Forsyth County, at the same time as the White’s 35th wedding anniversary. Not quite empty nesters, Blayne and Bryan have raised two almost grown people. Alyx is a SCAD graduate and has just completed a successful funding of her first graphic novel, Reliquest, through Kickstarter. She and her partner Sam, who is a computer engineer, own a home nearby with their much beloved rescue pup, Bennett. Tristan is currently attending UGA, where he is studying computer science and business, and who may be the next entrepreneur in the family.

One of the White’s favorite activities together is game night, which entails much yelling and pounding of the table. While the Whites lost Teddie in the early 2000’s, three more rescues have entered their lives. Cuddles, a border collie mix who studio clients might remember loved to herd them to the studio door and chase their cars; Daisy, a golden retriever mix who was rescued from a box at a local gas station; and most recently, Bennett, who wandered a golf course for weeks before finally approaching Tristan and almost collapsing in exhaustion at his feet. He now gets plenty of pampering and pets at Alyx’s feet while she and Sam work from home.

Running your own business doesn’t leave much time for play, but the local Dragon Con event is a must for the White family. Dragon Con is the largest pop culture convention on the planet and celebrates everything from comics and books to professional costuming, movies and television, games, prop making and so much more. There are celebrity panels and appearances, but the Whites find that their con friends are their favorite thing about the event. The comaraderie of celebrating with other pop culture fans, creating and enjoying something you care about, no matter how minor, is such a inspiration. Bryan attends Dragon Con to drink in all the amazing art and the comic books, a love he passed along to both of his kids. He remembers the Dragon Con from the 80’s, simply a few tables with regular people selling comics. Bryan was surprised when he took the kids down in 2010 and saw how much the convention had grown, taking over five hotels, and that attendees were in costume. He shared the photos with Blayne, who had declined to go, but when she saw the photos, said, “You didn’t tell me people dressed up!” A long time lover of Halloween, Blayne attended her first DC in 2011 and fell in love. She and Alyx learned about cosplay and commissioned their first costumes for 2012. “We look forward to this event every year and can’t wait to cosplay our favorite characters and see what everyone else has created. The level of talent is astounding.” They have also picked up many valuable costuming skills, such a leatherwork, and sewing, and Alyx has become quite the seamstress.

The White family has always loved movies and one of their favorite trips was a personal tour of Pixar Studios. It was on Blayne’s bucket list, and because Alyx was thinking of a career as a comic artist, Blayne made it her mission to make it happen. Assuming that tours were offered, she quickly found out that that wasn’t possible, other than a charity donation upwards of $10,000 at a rare auction. Not to be defeated, Blayne kept googling and accidentally stumbled upon a small school auction where she was able to bid on a private tour. The Pixar employee offering his own rare tickets to the studio was completely floored when Blayne, an outsider, won the auction and vowed to gatekeeper their next auction more carefully. They exchanged several tentative emails, probably to make sure Blayne wasn’t a complete psycho, and a trip to Emeryville was planned. It was absolutely amazing and inspiring to see the buildings and offices where so many beloved characters and stories had been born. After meeting their host, Dave Sotnick, the Whites still wait through every Pixar movie credit to spy his name on screen.

This year included a lifetime wish to visit Europe and the Whites traveled to Italy, where Bryan couldn’t believe he got the opportunity to see, touch and photograph everything he spent years studying through books. Tristan soaked up every moment and step through history, something he’s enjoyed since childhood. Bryan and Blayne feel blessed to have been accepted in the Forsyth County community so many years ago. “The people of Forsyth County have made it a joy to live and work here. We’ve built so many strong relationships with so many good people and we cherish that. We love being a part of the Vickery Village community and we look forward to many more years here!”