Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Roberts.
Morgan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Where do I begin… well, I worked offshore as a commercial diver since I was 19, I fell in love with sunsets and the beautiful landscapes across the vast ocean. I remember I would capture what I could with the camera or cell phone I had at the time. Neither one did its justice, but at least, I have some photos from it. After coming across vape technology in late 2013. I started to frequent a vape shop named H Town Vape (Instagram @htownvape), while there I met an individual by the name of Mateo (Instagram @picmaleon). He had just started his photography when I met him and over the course of years, he and I stayed in contact, whenever I would see him he had always shown me the new photos he had created. It had inspired me to buy a Sony a6000 camera. Sadly, I rarely had time to use it and learn the camera.
Fast forward to late 2017, I reached out to Mateo with the desire to mentor under his work. Mateo brought me to three photo shoots that he was booked for and had shown me tips and tricks to how he performed his work. I noticed after getting to use the Sony a6000 in a professional environment, it lacked certain aspects that I was not happy with. Mateo had talked to me about his dream camera, he was wanting the Canon 5d Mark IV camera but no bank would offer him the loan to get it. I did some research and found a website that had the camera he wanted and I surprised him with the purchase of the Canon 5D Mark IV camera for myself as well as him. Over the course of 2017, he and I worked together when we were able to. Eventually, by the end of 2017, I branched off and started doing my own shoots. 2018, I was building content and kept a majority of my work to myself, I shot mostly my friends, family, and a few models that reached out to me. Sometime in September, I viewed a short clip on Instagram by @mr2wo7tee and I reached out to the fashion designer offering photography work with him and his brand. He introduced himself as 270 (Instagram @stareware) and told me his next shoot I had an invitation to.
October of 2018, my mother was fighting her second fight with cancer. I and my family only knew about it at very short notice, on a Sunday following the 4-year anniversary party I attended at H Town Vape, which was September 22nd, 2018, I was on the way to see her. I had gone to see her back and forth over the course of October, my last trip ended on October 15th. October 20th, early morning, 3 am or 4 am, I received the call of her passing. She was just beginning to hear about my photography, loved the work I had showed her and was always supportive of what I had done. That month, I was not very active in photography.
November came around and 270 reached out to me, he was having a quinceanera party for his daughter and wanted me to come to shoot the event. I had never done a live event and I told him that, he said no worries, come through, we would love to have you there! We went on to schedule the event for December 1st, 2018. When I arrived, I was introduced to the videographer JP, (Instagram @jaydotperez). After the quinceanera ended, JP had told me about an upcoming music video he was booked for the following weekend and offered me a spot there to shoot photos.
December 8th, 2018, I had arrived downtown at the Marriot for the music video where I got introduced to Byrd (Instagram @byrd_the_ghost) we worked from 6 pm to 4 am, ironically, the song we did the music video for was called “4 am.” After the video, I got Byrd, JP, and others in attendance for the music video, footage I captured. The response was incredible! JP invited me to a studio shoot with his brother and other artists, Byrd ended up inviting me to go shoot a concert competition for a chance to win a spot to open up for the upcoming Lil Flip show. I arrived with Erik (Instagram @sirchox), I got shots of all the artists who performed and Kalum (Instagram @kalumjohnson) in particular loved the photos. The feedback from that propelled me to being introduced to Jennifer Garza (Instagram @jennifergarza73) who runs the semi-pro football team, Texas Raiders and the cheerleaders, Texas Raiderettes. Kalum invited me to the first football game of the preseason and I got shots of the halftime performance as well as the game. Jennifer invited me to the next game at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas for their second preseason game where I got to take photos at the Dallas Cowboys very own stadium on January 25th, 2019. January 26th, 2019 was the Lil Flip show that I attended with Byrd. I got to photograph the entire event as well as performance photos of Lil Flip (Instagram @Lilflip713) and other artists in attendance. The feedback was incredible!
All of this brought me to this interview, it’s a blessing to be able to tell the story and share with everyone. With all the ups and downs, I still have a goal in mind, my goal is to be one of Houston’s most sought after photographer. I dedicate this and all my work to my mother. I know she’s watching from above with a smile on her face.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things havebeen easy for you?
Overall, not at all, I have been up and down, one challenge of all this was when I first bought my Sony a6000 camera, my significant other at the time did not support the idea of me going out and getting photos. It put a slow start to my photography and networking. Once we separated, I had nothing holding me back.
My next challenge was keeping it together when my mother announced to me that cancer had come back into her body. It was so unexpected and the severity of it was detrimental. When I arrived on the first visit, the doctor had told us, he expected about 2-3 weeks of her life left. That was difficult to take in..
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Gem Lens Photography – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Gem Lens Photography was created by myself after mentoring with Mateo. I used to only take modeling photos, but once the door was opened to real-time photos, it changed my whole outlook on photography. I have taken photos of all sorts of categories now, boudoir, portraits, performance, action shots, group photos, the moon and landscapes, pets and animals, I have worked with different artists in the entertainment industry, in studio, on stage, and for album covers, football games, quinceaneras, I actually just got asked to do baby photos and wedding pictures so I’m pretty excited about that opportunity! I have no boundaries when it comes to photography, I love it all!
What makes me most proud? I think receiving all the feedback from my work, the response of my work brings a warm feeling to me and this is going to sound funny but seeing my photos on so many profile pictures on social media makes me proud. People love my work enough to make it their profile picture, it’s an honor to be there!
What sets me apart from others? I’m not sure, I just do what I love and hope that whoever works with me loves the images I create for them as much as I do.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
For the future, I have something in the works but I can’t announce it yet. 😉 Continue to follow @gemlens to find out more!
Contact Info:
- Email: gemlensphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/gemlens
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/gemlens
Image Credit:
Gem Lens Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
