Photographer Ashley Manley – Biography & Portfolio

photographer ashley manley

Photographer Ashley Manley works in the family documentary genre. She lives in the center of Illinois on a small farm together with a husband and two kids. Ashley isn’t an active social media user but you can get a glimpse into her life as a mother and get acquainted with her creative works on her website.

Ashley Manley: Bio

Ashley is a family documentary photographer. She lives on a small farm outside of Peoria, Illinois. Ashley’s main activities include raising two children and sharing parts of her life on the blog.

People and their relationships are what inspire Ashley to take photos. When she started her photography journey, she was wandering around the streets and watching people. After some time and practice, Ashley gained photography experience, tried her hand at shooting events and portraits. She has always been eager to learn more about the world, the areas and the buildings that surround her and never stopped exploring. The main aim of photographer Ashley Manley is to demonstrate how beautiful, strong, graceful and enthusiastic humans are. Her subjects are ordinary people. Ashley tends to exaggerate the situation to emphasize the part of her subjects’ essence though unusual family photo ideas. In her photography, she searches for a sense of rebellion and tenacity.

Nowadays almost everyone has a smartphone with a more or less decent camera, and sometimes people don’t think that it is necessary to organize a professional photoshoot. Ashley believes that only a special photo session can truly unite the whole family, show their bond from a different angle and ensure that everyone is featured in the photographs.

There is always one person who is left behind the camera, isn’t there? If you have a chance to organize such a photoshoot now, do it. Otherwise, then it may be too late. Photos bring us back to memorable moments and give us a chance to relive them. This is the main purpose of Ashley’s work.

She loves creating various projects, for instance, Happy Accidents, We Can Pretend, Snowy Day, Five is greater than zero. Also, she creates Pretty Presets and Looks Like Film Presets for enhancing family and kid photos in several clicks.

In 2017, Ashley Manley took a break from social media and still has no Twitter or Instagram account. She says that it has helped her a lot in approaching the content she shares with greater care. First of all, she takes photos for her own fulfillment, not to show off or compete with other photographers in the media sphere.

Ashley takes some time off, distancing herself from the hustle. She is always eager to support all kinds of creative experiments but tends to follow people whose works speak to her soul.

Despite the fact that Ashley can shoot even with an iPhone, she uses professional equipment. Over her photography journey, she tried many different cameras for photos and DSLRs for video. As of now, she shoots her personal and professional endeavors with such devices – NIKON D750. In Ashley’s opinion, the most universal lens is Nikon AF FX NIKKOR 35mm. A 35mm lens from Nikon is the best option for shooting in different conditions.

Ashley Manley doesn’t participate in major photography competitions, but her shots are constantly published in various family magazines.