Meet Jillian Manning

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jillian Manning a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jillian, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

At a young age, my mother introduced me to cameras and photography. She enjoyed taking pictures as a hobby and had gotten a professional camera as a wedding gift. As I grew and wanted to take pictures of my own, we would buy disposable film cameras and have fun taking photos with those. Eventually, she gave me an old film camera of hers and taught me how to load it and use it. I remember carrying that thing everywhere. I loved going with her to the film center and handing in our film to get developed. I still remember the excitement when she would tell me the pictures were ready to pick up. It was always fun to see how the photos had turned out. I had my own little albums of pictures over the years and it was fun building my own version of the bigger family photo albums my parents had. I always enjoyed looking through the images and imaginging what life was like at that point, or remebering the little snapshots in time.

Fast forward to myself as a young adult. I would constantly be taking pictures of my life and activities. However, photography really clicked for me after I became a Mama. I quickly realized that as a Mom, you are hardly caught in the pictures with your kids, and I found myself taking photos of everything and taking little videos of me with my daughter. At this time, I was also a stay at home Mom and I was feeling a little stir crazy. I really wanted to find something for myself, outside of being a Mama, that fueled my fire.

I had bought a decent camera a couple years before having kids and started seriously researching everything about cameras and how to use Manual mode. I then took a course that explained lighting, posing, a business model, etc., and I really started to picture this new creative outlet as a business venture.

I just started practicing and taking pictures of bees on sunflowers in my garden, my kids, if we went out to the park, just everywhere. I had recently met a professional photographer at two of my friend’s weddings and started asking her about what lenses to get and where to start. After adding a 50 mm to my kit, she saw fast progression with my photos and I really felt like I might have found my calling.

I started an instagram photography page and started building a portfolio. I had some friends who let me experiment with a family session and soon I had my first paid client. Things started rolling pretty quickly and within a few months my page had grown. I ended up reaching out and connecting with some local vedors to do a big giveaway. I took the main role of planning and designing the giveaway. It was an amazing experience, connecting with these other creatives in-person to take product photos and make some great friendships. I gained a lot of confidence from it and after hearing the reaction from the other ladies on my work, I raised my prices.

Next, came weddings. At first I was hesitant, weddings are a whole other beast; long hours, a lot of pressure to deliver one-of-a-kind moments, and hours of editing. I had upgraded my camera and added a couple more lenses to my kit and felt very confident using them after a busy Christmas mini season. So, I decided to give it a shot and took on my first elopment in February. It was just the best experience and I felt this photography high like no other I had experienced so far. Witnessing love was just so extraordinary and it had me feeling so amazing. When wedding season came that Summer, I dove in head first and had a few weddings lined up. Luckily, I had found another photographer friend, who took me under her wing and allowed me to tag along to one of her weddings to learn the flow of a day and what shots to focus on.

I had my first wedding the next week and it went great. I started feeling like maybe this was where I would focus my business. After a very eventful and busy wedding season, I became very burnt out. I started questioning everything. I didn’t feel confident in my editing, I constantly felt like I needed to get better, and I wasn’t happy with my work. I felt like I couldn’t do it. However, every time these negative thoughts would creep in, I just kept pushing forward. I completed new education and mentoring, and continued to learn as much as I could.

At the beginning of the following wedding season, I was actually set to give birth for the third time. I had told myself that I would only take on a set number of weddings, to help prevent burn out and to make sure I had family time with my kids during the summer. I actually stuck to my number for awhile, but overtime I had taken on double than the previous year and ended up going back to work shooting weddings at only 4 weeks postpartum. Luckily, my husband was on paternity leave, which allowed me to continue shooting weddings on weekends and gave me time to edit. As much as I was proud of myself for not slowing down in my work, I felt I had missed out on so many instances with my family over the summer, time I knew I could never get back, and I knew something had to change. I knew that I could not take on the same number of weddings moving forward.

Throughout wedding season I had also taken on family, maternity and newborn sessions. I found I started falling in love again with these slower, relaxed sessions, and witnessing fellow Mamas love on their babies just hit different now. Photographing these sweet moments brought back that photography high. I then knew that this is where my true passion was, in family, motherhood and newborn sessions. I started gaining my confidence back and dove into really finding my editing style. I now have a clear business path and I know exactly where I’m headed. After so much more learning and playing around with things, I have finally found my editing style and I have been finding everything so enjoyable again.

Looking back on my progress, I feel so grateful and proud of everything that I have accomplished this year, on top of having my third babe. Some highlights are that I planned and photographed my first styled shoot to showcase a new gown in my client closet, I am an official Canadian Choice Award Finalist for Best Photography Services in Dartmouth, I have my photos feautred in a full, one page spread in a local magazine, The East Coast Creatives Journal, and finally, getting to do this interview with Bold Journey Magazine.

I am so glad I continued to keep working on my education and working on myself in those hard moments. I am looking forward to seeing where my business grows from here and the opportunities that the future holds.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a Mama to three sweet babes, 4 and under. I have been married to my high-school sweetheart for 7 years of the 15 we’ve been together. We have a very full and crazy home, with two dogs and four cats, but it is a home very full of love. I absolutely love being a Mama and I enjoy talking about pregnancy, birth and postpartum with others. Some interests of mine include good food, wine and sunshine.

I specialize in motherhood, newborn and family portraits, and I take on a select few weddings every year because I just love, love. I truly believe photographing your life at different stages is so important. Time doesn’t slow down, if anything it seems to go faster, and documenting the small and big moments is something that you only get to do once. It provides you and your family something to look back on over the years and allows you to place yourself back in time, as well as allowing your kids to see what life was like back then. Just as many of us enjoyed flipping through our parent’s photo albums, I enjoy capturing those moments for others.

For families and motherhood, I am continuing to expand my client closet with dresses for Mamas and clothing for their littles, to help make the experience of picking outfits easier, and to help them feel their best in their photos. Clients can purchase prints and custom albums or photobooks directly through their galleries, as well, and I want to help make a special, custom experience for each one of my clients.

For couples looking for wedding photography, my books are open for the 2025 season. I am only going to be taking a few more weddings next year, so if you are interested, please send an inquiry through my website at jillianmanningphotography.com

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, the ability to learn how to shoot in all lighting scenarios is very key if you are looking to get into professional photography, especially wedding photography. Secondly, getting out and practicing as much as possible is the best way to learn. Finally, if you really are passionate about something, don’t give up. I know it seems like it’s something you always hear. But, in those moments of self-doubt or questioning if this is right for you, if you can see where you want to be, but you are not sure how to get there, just keep building on yourself, keep working towards your goal and keep bettering yourself. You may not see the way to that goal right now, but if you keep going, you will. Just keep building one block at a time. Don’t try to fast forward, enjoy the journey now.

I think the biggest piece of advice is don’t compare yourself to others. If you see something you like or see someone accomplishing something that you think is great or you wish that you could do, use that as fuel to learn but find your own path. Something that really stuck with me is, “the success of other’s does not affect or take away from your own”. They are on their own path, so genuinely be happy for them, because it doesn’t take away from your journey.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

When I first started and I was new to photography, I made sure to always be vocal and applaud someone when I really enjoyed their work or something they accomplished. I would message and connect with others in the community to create genuine friendships and over time, I found myself in a community of helpful and supportive photographers. I believe having this community is a key part of how I developed essential skills and knowledge that helped me in my business and to become a better photographer. So, don’t be scared to connect with others, even if you think they are well ahead of you. Everyone is just another person and who knows, it might end up developing into a great friendship! Building a community is key.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jillianmanningphotography.com
• Instagram: @jillianmanningphoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jillianmanningphotos

Image Credits

Branding image: Julie Cameron Photography

All other images: myself – Jillian Manning Photography