Manning was interested and involved in photography almost as long as music. A close friend starting in the 1960s was William Eggleston, who served as a mentor, as well as introducing young Manning to other photographers such as William Christenberry, Diane Arbus and Lee Friedlander. Although Manning's favorite work is his "evocative urban landscapes," he has also photographed Chuck Berry, Procol Harum, Steppenwolf, Terry Reid, Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield, Lenny Kravitz, and many other musical artists of the rock music genre, as both an independent and as a writer/photographer for New Musical Express. He worked as a photojournalist for NME. He photographed Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, the day before King was assassinated.