From a cubicle to the Great Outdoors
A Palos Verdes native chases adventures with camera in hand after quitting long-time office job
Palos Verdes native James Kao displays snippets from his portfolio. Photo
Kao, his camera and long zoom lens around his neck, followed Diego out to the spot. From about 200 meters away, he snapped close-up shots of a mother puma sitting with her cub, a surreal, quiet moment that lasted just a few minutes before the two scurried away.
During the remainder of the expedition, the trio would find three more by watching and listening closely to traveling herds of guanacos, common prey for pumas. When brown llamas sense a puma approaching, they stand up on their legs and sound a shrill whistle. Yet, due to the puma’s skittish nature, tracking one can be challenging: two of the five days in the Patagonia mountains, the crew didn’t spot a single one.
Kao does not consider himself a wildlife photographer, but he only recently started calling himself a photographer at all. Since leaving his longtime career as an associate planner at the City of Signal Hill in 2012, he’s allowed his insatiable wanderlust to take the wheel, with he and his camera enthusiastically along for the ride.
Since, he sold his house in Long Beach and has explored a dozen countries including Burma, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Antarctica. His wide-ranging photography, from action shots to portraits, is increasingly garnering attention and recognition from industry tastemakers such as B&H Photo and Photo District News. Most recently, a jury selected one of Kao’s works to show in the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s first annual “Creative Portrait” Exhibition, which will open Nov. 6 and run through Nov. 27.
Kao’s family moved to Palos Verdes from Garden Grove when he was 4; his father, a doctor, ran a practice in the South Bay. His grandmother, who lived in Torrance, cultivated his love for the outdoors at a young age by teaching him and his younger brother about gardening and harvesting fruits and vegetables. Kao felt a natural draw to nature, art and painting, but he chose to keep himself grounded in a “practical” mindset for his career.
Kao’s capture of a puma stretching in the Patagonia mountains last October. Courtesy of James Kao
“I wanted to do something creative, but at the same time I thought being a starving artist would be difficult,” he says.
After participating in a summer architecture program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo during his sophomore year at Palos Verdes High School, Kao believed he’d found a solid middle ground where he could apply his artistic inclinations to a sustainable career. In 1992, he graduated from Cornell University with a degree in landscape architecture.
Despite an Ivy League degree under his belt, he quickly became disillusioned working for various planning and engineering firms in Orange County. At the bottom of the totem pole, he was never given the reins to create and design; rather, monotonous technical work ruled his days in the office.
“The first firm that hired me, all they had me do was sit at the computer and plot sprinkler heads on a big housing track,” Kao says. “I got so bored of it I was like, I just wanna be designing stuff. But in that profession, you have to work your way up and pay your dues. I was used to doing my own thing. I felt like I wasn’t utilizing my skills and I was wasting my time.”
A few years later, Kao earned a master’s degree in real estate development at USC and proceeded to work for several planning and consulting firms involved with large-scale master planning. When he got married, he took a job with the City of Signal Hill as an associate planner.
“Again, I wasn’t doing much on the creative side,” he says. “But the job at least gave me a steady income and allowed me to travel.”
When his marriage ended four years later, he vowed that he would turn over a new leaf and start fresh. He saved up for three years, not taking a single vacation. Then in 2006, he took a six-week solo trip to Spain, armed with a cheap point-and-shoot camera. When he returned home, he invited family and friends over and shared his adventures with a slideshow of cultural landmarks, landscapes, portraits and other moments captured in time.
Kao’s shot of professional runner Michele Graglia in Boulder, CO. Courtesy of James Kao
He did the same after his trip to Machu Picchu. Then the Gauchos. His hobby quickly blossomed when he bought himself a professional digital SLR camera, a Canon 50B.
“That kind of changed everything,” he says. “You make an investment like that — you’ve got a body but also all these different lenses you have to buy. Then you have to learn how to use the thing because everything is super expensive. By that point I was fully committed.”
When he wasn’t in the office, he was attending local photography workshops, classes and studying on his own. On the weekends, he frequented the Queen Mary in Long Beach, downtown L.A., Venice Beach and his hometown of Palos Verdes to practice his shots. During the week, after work, he pored over these images, editing and processing them.
In 2012, he decided it was now or never. He put in his letter of resignation and sold his house. He went to Montana and enlisted in a five-month program at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. He has been pursuing photography professionally ever since, building up a wide range of shots for his portfolio.
“It’s opened up a whole new world for me,” he says. “Now, every day is different. I’m back to being creative again. That’s something I’ve been lacking for so long. What was apparent though, was that even though I was working this job, my heart was always in my photography. It got to a point where I realized I should be doing this every day and try to make a living doing it.”
Much of his work since has focused on travel photography, his first love, as well as promotional and action photography. His work has shown in the midwest edition of AAA Magazine and a travel industry magazine called Recommend. He recently spent three days in Ouray, Colorado, shooting runners from Team Adidas — seven of his images were published in Trail Runner Magazine. In addition, he has paired up with model-turned-professional runner Michele Graglia for action shoots. Kao says he hopes to find local South Bay athletes to work with.
Looking ahead, Kao will be visiting India for the first time this December with two other photographers. Then in January he will be spending several weeks on Easter Island, a remote Chilean island in Polynesia, to photograph the annual Tapati festival, which includes horse and boat races, a parade and a triathlon event. He plans to document the weeks of preparation leading up to the festival and eventually publish a book about Easter Island culture.
“What I enjoy the most about what I’m doing now is I can meet so many interesting people,” Kao says. “I realized that photography is like a bridge, a bridge that allows me to connect with people. … I’m still learning. Every day is a new challenge for me right now.”
Kao’s work can be purchased at The Artists Studio at the Promenade on the Peninsula located at 550 Deep Valley Dr., #159, Rolling Hills Estates. More of his photos can be found at www.jameskaofoto.com. PEN