Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Sykes.
Robert, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Robert Sykes. I’m twenty-eight years old, and I live in Houston, Texas. I have a beautiful wife. Together, we have a gorgeous two-year-old daughter. I practice Zen meditation. I work full time as an ICU nurse. And, I am a part time photographer. So, how did I get into photography? To trace it back, I became a registered nurse in 2014. I have started in the ICU, where I still work to this day. As a full time ICU nurse, I work three twelve-hour shifts. FOUR days off! On my days off from work, I go to a Zen temple called The Houston Zen Center. I live in the suburbs. The temple is in town. To beat the Houston traffic, I would get into town early and hang out at a coffee shop with a nice patio. Admittedly, I didn’t even like coffee. I just liked patios to Zen out on. Anyway, the more I went to these cool coffee shops in town, the more I took notice of the craft aspect that went into specialty coffee. While waiting for my drink, I observed the baristas meticulously making the flat whites and cappuccinos. The process intrigued me. Seeing the baristas make designs with milk in the espresso was fascinating. I would take pictures of the latte art with my iPhone. I became a regular at some shops, always ordering a flat white or cortado, always taking a picture with my phone. At one shop, Blacksmith, I became friends with one of the regulars, Stephen Hébert, a professional photographer. He used Fujifilm. He introduced me to the X100S. He showed me how simple it was to use. He showed me the Wi-Fi button that transfers the photos to your phone! He had noticed I liked taking pictures, proposing I acquire this camera to step up my game. I think the next day, I went to the local camera store, Houston Camera Exchange, and purchased it. Got the black one. Loved it. I carried it with me every time I went to a coffee shop, snapping away and posting to Instagram. Not too long after acquiring this camera, I made another friend through coffee, Paul Yoon. He was a regular at a lot of the shops. It turns out he used Fujifilm too, wielding the XT-20. I liked the way his photos looked.
One day, Paul let me use his camera. He had the 35mm F2 lens. Woah! This was a game-changer. The camera felt so smooth, so fast, and was still so quiet and compact! I went back to the Houston Camera Exchange and traded in the X100 for the XT-20 with a 35 mm lens. Now, this was a terrific camera. I was really having fun taking pictures. At some point, though, I had a desire to become a better photographer. I learned from Stephen and Paul about an editing program called Lightroom. This was what the professionals used. So I downloaded it. Quite honestly, the software seemed daunting to learn. For a while, I just used the presets. The pictures looked better and they had a consistent look. I was going to the coffee shops. I was exploring different angles to take photos from. I had jumped down the photography rabbit hole. Some people even started to take notice of my photos. The owner of one of my favorite coffee companies in Houston noticed. He had seen my photos whenever I tagged his company on Instagram. He asked if I would be interested in taking photos for their social media. I was honored to accept his offer! Photography became much more important to me after this. It was more than a hobby now. I saw this as an opportunity to grow. I also felt a responsibility to produce higher quality work. So I went deeper down the rabbit hole.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Honestly, it has been smooth. Because I have a career as a nurse, I’m lucky that I can invest as much or as little time as I want into photography. My business has grown by word of mouth. Currently, I manage the Instagram for seven companies in Houston. I also photograph events and do portrait work here and there. Managing the Instagram accounts keeps me fairly busy, though.
Please tell us about layman rob Co.
My company name is layman rob Co. The name is just my Instagram account with a “Co.” at the end, ha! I specialize in documentary photography. This means I capture the moments in spaces as is. Everything is candid. No posing. No artificial lights. I want the photos to tell a story. I want to capture the soul of a moment. This is a craft I find myself constantly fine tuning, and I truly enjoy it. What am I known for? I think the people that know me would say coffee photography. Before managing Instagram’s for a few coffee shops, I simply enjoyed taking photos of coffee and baristas making the coffee. The only difference between then and now is I get paid to do it! There has been a shift in my style of photography over the last year, though. I got interested in street photography. When this happened, I began taking more photos of the guests in the coffee shops. Not just latte art and baristas anymore. Telling the story of how the guests enjoy their coffee in the coffee shop is really fun. I get a kick out of seeing the older gentleman who comes in with a newspaper every morning and orders an Americano, or the girl in the corner studying on her laptop with a latte, or the attorney in his suit getting his espresso before heading to work downtown. I think this is what sets me apart from others – the willingness to photograph the guests candidly and to tell a story with the photos. And I’m proud of this. It feels good to do what you enjoy doing creatively. I feel honored and blessed that somebody else likes my style, and is willing to pay me to provide photos that tell the story of their business.
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
Plans for the future? Hmmm. Well, I’m working on a couple of personal projects which I can’t give too much detail on yet. I’ll give a hint for one of the projects: coffee. Ha! As far as what I’m looking forward to? Traveling. This year I will be photographing a few coffee events in different cities around the country. Most notably, I will be in New York City for about a week. I am planning to do a lot of street photography while I’m out there. Also, I recently started a YouTube channel centered around POV street photography. Essentially, I walk around the city with a GoPro strapped to my chest. I then condense the footage down to create a five to ten minute video with some chill hip-hop in the background. I am looking forward to creating more of these videos and currently uploading a video a week.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laymanrob.com
- Email: laymanrobco@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/layman_rob/
- Facebook: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb4-U5KpqBh2MKsi3DpQO5Q?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
Robert A. Sykes03
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
