Biography

Wayne Michael Earle

Born in Jacksonville, FL...December 14, 1981.
 
Moved to Nashville, TN in November of 1987.

Wayne was first introduced to creative arts while attending Meigs Magnet School from 1992-1996.  Amazingly, many former students of this institution have gone on to have successful careers in some sort of art-related profession.  Wayne credits his former drama teacher, Kaul Williams Bluestone, for inspiring much of his outgoing qualities by introducing him to theatre and creative performance arts in general.  The opportunity to attend Meigs is one which is not offered to many and one for which Wayne will be forever grateful.

In 1996, Wayne stumbled upon one of the best jobs that a young boy could ever hope to attain...batboy for the Triple-A Minor League Baseball Team, the Nashville Sounds.  It would lead to a strange opportunity early in 98'...when Wayne took the Sounds mascot position as 'Ozzie the Cougar' on a whim...thinking it would be a temporary thing.  Hmmm.

In the spring of his senior year at Antioch High School, Wayne had narrowed his college search down to Western Kentucky University and the frontrunner, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville.  Things were seemingly falling into place...until he received an email about something interesting that someone had happened to see while skimming through the newspaper.

The University of Kentucky had placed an ad in the paper announcing there would be tryouts for a scholarship position as the UK mascot...'The Wildcat'.  Opportunity knocks.  It was two weeks later that Wayne won the position as the next UK mascot.  Upon finishing his freshman year of college, Wayne began traveling the country as a performer for the touring sports entertainment act, ZOOperstars!  It was opportunity that would take him from Brooklyn to Baltimore to Boston to Bridgeport to Burlington to Buffalo to Batavia to Billings to...well, you get the point.

Majoring in both Marketing & Management, Wayne graduated from the University of Kentucky in December 03'...one semester ahead of schedule.  At that point, he accepted a position as the Director of Marketing with ZOOperstars!  & BirdZerk! based in Louisville, KY.  He purchased a condo in Louisville and immediately began a whirlwind of 6am flights and long nights...traveling to close to 100 cities a year to perform at sports venues.  Wayne almost finished the first year with the company with his hopes for a long career still in tack.

But, then they were shattered.  On December 26th, 2004, Wayne was performing a skit during the first quarter of Boston Celtics vs. San Antonio Spurs game in which he would fight with the Spurs mascot...before being eaten by the inflatable 'Clammy Sosa'.  Positioning was awkward and when it came time to fall...Wayne slammed his right shoulder into the hardwood.  Attempting to finish the skit by doing a handstand [with an already shattered clavicle], the decision to continue then ripped all the ligaments and tendons in his right shoulder.  Ouch.  Seriously.  Ouch. 

The injury would end up being a blessing in disguise...though Wayne would not realize this for many painful months to come.  Reconstructive surgery would be needed to fix his shoulder and it allowed Wayne to return to Nashville for the first extended period of time in many years.  Dr. J. Michael Kioschos was the magician who would put Wayne's shoulder back together.  After surgery, the long road to recovery proved to both a painful and eye-opening experience.

His time in Nashville gave him the ability to see what it was like to have a steady life in one city.  Traveling weekend after weekend in Fargo or Toledo or Sacramento or Chicago or fill in the blank was fun for awhile.  Nonetheless, found he was giving up the better part of his 20-something social life and in the end...for a fairly meager paycheck.

It was near the end of his recovery that Wayne met a very talented and inspiring friend, Bethany Jones.  Beth was a photography student at the Nossi College of Art in Nashville.  It was a chance meeting in the early morning hours that would wind up inspiring a brand new career choice for Wayne.  That night, Bethany had asked Wayne to take a photo of her and their mutual friend, Connie.  Wayne tried.  And tried.  And tried six times total.  But, he could not figure out how to get this astounding piece of technological equipment to work.  Finally, Beth snapped and had her friend, Amanda, take the photo for her.

It didn't sit well with Wayne that he was unsuccessful in taking the photo.  So, he found Bethany on MySpace and sent her a message asking for another chance.  They messaged back and forth and planned a day which Bethany could shoot Wayne as a project for school.  They met up and shot the pictures.  But, more importantly, they had the chance to get to know each other...immediately becoming the best of friends.  Over the months to come, they would meet up whenever they could...as Wayne had to return to traveling and the work-a-day world and was not able to be in Nashville very often.  Yet, there were not many days that Bethany and Wayne would not talk on the phone or at least converse back and forth through text messages.  The excitement of everything pushed Wayne to purchase a Canon 20D in October of 05'.  He and Bethany began to toy with the idea of starting a company sometime in the future.

With Wayne being the workhorse of the company in the past, management was also presented with some problems upon losing Wayne to injury.  It resulted in a scramble to hire many young kids to fill in his absence.  Well, not really.  Wayne soon learned the harsh reality of business.  The substitutes were ultimately transformed into low price replacements.  His motivation dwindled.  His performance staggered.  And his attitude heightened.  Soon it became clear to Wayne that he would not be a long-term fixture with the company.  Wayne chose to move back to Nashville and attempt to continue with the company from there.

This allowed him to further his passion for photography and really start to think about taking things to a professional level...hoping that he and Beth could work together in some form or fashion.  It was right around the beginning of 06' that his friendship with Bethany took an awkward turn.  She just wasn't herself anymore.  Bethany Ann Jones passed away on February 22nd, 2006 from a combination of muscular dystrophy coupled with drug use.  The loss would be the harshest reality Wayne had faced in his life.

Wayne parted ways with BirdZerk! & ZOOperstars! in April 06' to focus on his own career.

Through all the experiences that Wayne has gone through...these are the most important realizations he has made.

'Treat Others How You Wish To Be Treated' - 'Yet Never Expect the Same'
'Some People Own Life, Others Experience It' - 'Material Possessions Are Insignificant'
'Art Transcends Time' - 'One's Creation is One's Legacy'

Wayne began his photography career in May 06'.
Bethany works with him...albeit in spirit.

Wayne would like to thank all the people that have been a part of his life.