Today we’d like to introduce you to Manny De Los Santos.
Hi Manny, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It all started on a Friday night walking into Bestbuy with my father to look at electronics. We would mostly head into the T.V section but this time I decided to walk down the center of the store and stumbled upon the camera section. I glanced at each camera and decided to pick one up and look through the viewfinder. That moment, the camera felt like an extension of my body and soul, and in that moment, I knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. To become a professional photographer and videographer. I went home and researched everything I knew about cameras. The following week I went back to Bestbuy and bought the camera.
It happened to be around our annual local festival in Wichita, Kansas. I decided to take the camera out and took photos of whatever caught my eye without knowing anything about the settings. I posted those photos on my social media and had the local and college newspaper reach out to me, and the rest was history. Next thing you know, I’m shooting for the Wichita State Basketball team and a corespondent for the Wichita Eagle newspaper and The Sunflower newspaper at the University I was attending. From there, I got published in the New York Times, Washington Post and started shooting weddings and music videos all over the country. Everything happened so fast I’m still in disbelief to have been blessed with all these amazing opportunities.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some struggles were trying to balance life with work and making time for friends and family. The first few years I did sacrifice seeing my friends and didn’t have a social life, but now I’ve been able to manage that better. Mental health is important to have.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a professional photographer videography and shoot weddings, Quinceaneras, corporate events, music videos all over the country. One thing I’m most proud of is shooting weddings for Influencers with 10 million plus followers and three-time Emmy award winners and Victoria Secret models.
What sets me apart is that I find creative angles and have always given my best effort, whether it’s a small local non-profit event, or big corporate banquets with hundreds of attendees, I deliver the best I can in either situation.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My advice for those starting out is to take your camera everywhere and shoot everything. I didn’t have anyone to shoot at the beginning, so I just went out for walks and lived my regular life and having a camera at hand allowed me to try new settings and learn about lighting and developing an eye for colors and compositions and angles.
Pricing:
- I usually start out at $350 for portrait sessions but can go up to $6,000 for weddings and Quinceaneras which includes both photography and videography for an all day coverage.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mannydelossantosphotography
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/mannydelossantosphotography
