David Manning began making photographs at age 14 when he received a Pentax K1000 as a Christmas gift. Processing his own black and white film and prints, he was hooked and became the staff shooter for his high school yearbook. He loved documenting life around him. 

Photography remained a hobby but gave way to a love of aviation, which became a career for David as a pilot, both in the U.S. military and later, in the airlines. Photography as an avocation was resurrected by David in 2003, when employees at his airline undertook deep pay cuts to keep the company solvent. Freelancing for local magazines and shooting commercially for publication, David began documenting the career that he loved…that of an airline pilot.