Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriela Manzano.
Hi Gabriela, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I was about to turn 15 years old, as a typical Mexican, I had my first professional photoshoot for my Quinceañera with full makeup, a big gold dress and a beautiful pearl color bouquet.
I barely remember the directions that the photographer was telling me but I do remember that he was jumping off the walls, joking around and pretty much doing all that he could to make that experience so incredible and so comfortable for me, for the first time I was like: I don’t know what it’s going on but this guy really have a big passion for his job, hopefully, I look good in the pictures… And by the way, the pictures turn out awesome.
After my Quinceañera I asked my mom if she could buy me a camera, and lucky me she said yes!
I was crazy in love with taking pictures of flowers, people’s eyes, my family, my friends and everything you can think a 15-year-old can be interested in.
One year later my family and I found out that my dear grandmother, Angela aka mi Tita, got cancer and unfortunately, on July 31st of 2011, she passed away.
I was 16 years old at that time, and one of the last pictures that we had of her smiling was taken by me.
It was there when I realized why that photographer was doing what he did, because in the end, that’s how your loved ones want to remember you, happy and smiling.
11 years later here I am, doing my best to transmit that same feeling to my clients, I want to allow them to feel in a comfortable environment during the photoshoot and capture real emotions from them.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Where can I start? Well, definitely not, haha.
I’ve always been a business-minded person and for a while, I thought I could manage to have a full-time job, my photography business during the weekends and bunch of other stuff packed in my overflowed calendar… it was the perfect recipe for emotional disaster and a horrible mental burnout.
I was achieving this awesome feeling of girl boss, but in the meanwhile, my brain and my heart was completely upside down… I wasn’t able to sleep, I was checking my phone at every time, I wasn’t present during family time and I naively thought: I guess this is how success feels like? So I ended up quitting photography completely in 2020.
At the beginning of 2021 (after the pandemic), I decided to go back to taking pictures again, but I was determined to approach my photography business in a different way.
My mental health will always be first before anything else, because if I’m feeling good inside, I’m sure I will be able to reflect that to my clients.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
In all these years, I have tried a bunch of different photography styles, but I always ended up going back to the same thing: Portraits.
There is something so special and so beautiful about people’s faces and facial expressions that capture the light in their eyes and their true smile it’s just so gratifying for me.
Even if I’m working at a wedding, quinceañeras, events, family photoshoot, conceptual photoshoots, etc I always manage to ask them if I can do portraits of them.
I think time goes by so fast that I want to be able to capture every single part of their expressions and essence of my clients, and when they looked back at those pictures, they can remember exactly how they use to be.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Beginner’s mindset, always. Every single day you can learn something different from anybody, and just keeping myself open to new knowledge has been key for me.
Try to create a circle of creative persons that are not in your same business area, people that pushes you to make big projects and encourage you to do new things, you can learn so much about their experience and their point of view in other areas of the market.
People you can lean on along the way, they can help you expand your networking and can help them as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gabrielamanzanophotography.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/gabrielamanzanophotography
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/gabrielamanzanophotography
Image Credits
Main photo by Lucero Creative Studio 8
Additional photos by Gabriela Manzano Photography
