Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Manning.
Hi Jay, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in San Francisco, California where art and street culture meet. My mother was an excellent photography and my father a drummer. Art consumed my life in one form or another since I was born. I first picked up a camera when I was 13 years old. I was immediately fascinated with how you could transform a moment into a captured image that would last forever. I ran around San Francisco with an old VHS camera pretending I was Steve Irwin. I even interviewed people in the street with an Australian accent. Fast forward to high school, when my camera skills started to tie into my identity. I really began to feel the direction I was headed in with my photography and cinematography. I’ve always had a love for the ocean and even when abalone diving as a young boy. So, it was not surprise that when I moved to Laguna Beach in the late summer of 2015 that I immediately fell in love. At that moment, I realized that I wanted to film the ocean every day, all day. I was mesmerized with the constant beauty that our reef provides. There’s nothing in my life that compares to being out in the water for me. While I’m out there, nothing else in the world seems to matter. The world almost sits still in a sense.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The journey to being an artist is never smooth. But it is my belief that the rough rocks on the road form an artist to handle to toughest terrain. My biggest struggle has always been finding my identity through art. Who do I want to be as an artist? What do I want to showcase? What direction do I want to take my art? These questions haunt an artist until you find that thing that fits your soul like a lost puzzle piece. For me, it was the ocean.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I guess what sets me apart from maybe other ocean cinematographers is that I don’t just film one thing in the ocean. I film waves, seals, fish, reef, kelp, and pretty much anything that displays the ocean’s truest beauty.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
The way people can support me is by checking out my website at www.JaysVisions.net and purchasing one of the many items I have for sale! Also, just following me on social media goes a long way as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.JaysVisions.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jays_visions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaysVisions/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8HWgZL_QvunUKWSN8DqhMA
