James Kao uses his Tamron SP 150-600mm VC lens to capture these big cats in action.

By Jenn Gidman
Images by James Kao

Los Angeles photographer James Kao has been to some of the most far-flung places on Earth—Peru's Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands, Bhutan—while building up his portfolio of travel photography. But he's also passionate about the environment and wildlife's place in it, so when he had the opportunity to track big cats in the southern Andes, he booked his animal-themed adventure before you could say "Patagonian pumas" five times fast.

"It was an extended trip where I visited Chile, Argentina, and Antarctica," he says. "I went with a company called EcoCamp Patagonia to Torres del Paine, a famous park in Chile known for having unique wildlife such as the pumas and guanacos, which are llama-like creatures in the camel family. This trip was going to give me the chance to photograph subjects I never had before, in stunning surroundings."

James knew he would have to travel light, and a couple of friends had already recommended the new Tamron SP 150-600mm VC lens, so that was the lens he opted to bring on his trip. "I needed a lens that would give me a maximum amount of range," he says. "And because of the wind and dust in Patagonia, I didn't want to be changing my lenses all the time, so this lens worked perfectly."

Due to the wind factor—and the fact that James' tripod attachment broke two days in, meaning he had to handhold his camera for the rest of the trip—the 150-600's Vibration Compensation (VC) feature was a lifesaver. "Because of the wind, I had to shoot at much higher shutter speeds, which meant I was really bumping up my ISOs," he says. "I think my ISO range went from 800 to 2000, depending on the light levels and the wind conditions. It was amazing, though, that even at those high ISOs, I was able to get some really sharp shots at 600mm because the VC helped me keep my images stable."

James turned out to be the only client on the tracking expedition, but it worked out to be a personalized experience he wouldn't have received otherwise. "It was just me, a tracker named Roberto, and my guide, Diego," he says. "It felt much more manageable with just the three of us. These animals are very skittish, and when too many people are around they can get nervous and run away."

How the puma tracking worked: James would wait back at the lodge or in an SUV with Diego while Roberto headed out into the Patagonian wilderness to see if he could find any wildlife. "Then Roberto would call us from wherever he was," James explains. "We'd get as close to him as possible on the road, then hike in to where he was. It also helped that Diego was an experienced photographer—not only did he understand the wildlife we were looking for, but he also knew all the best vantage points and how to get all the right angles when photographing the animals."

One of the first animals the guides tried to find, even before the pumas, were the guanacos, which live in sizable herds throughout Patagonia. "They prefer being out in the wide-open grasslands areas instead of, say, enclosed forests, because they have very good eyesight and can scan the horizon for any movements from the pumas," James says.

The trio found their way down to a lake in the region where the guanacos liked to feed. "The setting there that day was unbelievable," James says. "It had just snowed the night before, so there was this light dusting of snow on all the rocks and grass, as well as on the guanacos themselves. They have this very thick coat that the snow lands on, and it doesn't really melt. When I'm photographing gorgeous landscapes like this, I like to place a rock, person, or other element in the scene to show scale. In this case, a guanaco played that role nicely for me."

The guanaco sentries that keep a lookout for pumas actually help the human guides track down the big cats. "When guanacos sense or see a puma, they stand very erect, pointing in the direction of the puma while emitting this loud, shrill whistling sound," James says. "I was actually able to get a photo of one in this state of alert, with its leg and tail up."

Once one guanaco starts whistling, others do, too, James explains. "The guides have high-powered binoculars and can simply look in the direction the guanacos are pointing," he says. "Once the tracker spots a puma, he just keeps an eye on the puma and follows it. Then he calls myself and the guide and we're able to go to the right spot and start tracking with him."

Once they've got a track on a puma, it's important to know the animal's habits to ensure the best photo opportunities. "Pumas get active and hunt in the morning, as well as again in the late afternoon and evening, and they sleep during the day," James says. "So we'd go out after they had eaten and follow them around. Once they're in their lairs to rest, it's hard to find them—and even if you do, there's not much that's interesting photographic-wise. It's like when you go to the zoo and the animals are all curled up in a ball sleeping. It's kind of boring."

The very first day James and his guides went out, they were lucky enough to spot a mother puma and her cub, which was about a year old. "The cubs stick around with the mothers until they're about 2 years old," James explain. "This one was still hanging around, so we just made sure to kept a respectful distance. After a while we were able to get close enough while they were resting so that I could get a bunch of photos; then we just let them take off and do their thing."

James explains how they were sometimes able to keep tabs on some of the same pumas over the course of the entire trip. "We saw about four or five different individual animals over a span of six days, which was a pretty good hit rate for this kind of trip," he says.

One of the pumas they tracked was called Mochita by the guides, or "Tail-less One." "It was born with no tail, and the guides were worried about it when it was very young because pumas need their tails for balance and running and climbing trees," James says. "But this one survived and thrived."

Mochita was also very calm around people. "We were around 100 yards away from it one day while it was napping in the bush," James recalls. "Suddenly it got up and started coming toward us. I stood behind my guide like he instructed and didn't move, and the puma walked right by us. We followed it until it stopped to do this yoga-like stretch, which I had never seen a puma do before. I was only 30 feet away at that point; I pulled my camera up and got the photo mid-stretch."

Using the 150-600 when the pumas were relaxing post-snack also allowed James to achieve more of the style he prefers to shoot. "I like to have my subject in tack-sharp focus, then add layers to my work," he explains. "I'll do that by adding a foreground element in, like a rock or a tree, and softly blur that out. I'll also then put in a background element or landscape, which I'll also blur."

James was able to capture just such a photo as a puma rested on a ledge high above the river valley. "It's a remarkable location," James says. "It's so expansive, so you really get a sense of the puma's environment. But I wanted to give the puma center stage, since the puma is the key to this entire landscape and setting."

A small splash of color also helped make the photo eye-catching. "This bush started blooming in the season I was down there," James says. "They face the north side, where the sun is coming from. Here, even though it's a cloudy day, the main light source is coming from the back."

Tracking and photographing these big cats filled James with a sense of awe, but not fear—partly because his 150-600 allowed him to keep a safe distance, but also because of the mutual respect he says is engendered when it's just you and the puma in the Patagonian wilderness. "It's an amazing thing when you're staring at a puma and it's staring right back at you," he says. "You think you'd be petrified, like this animal could kill you and eat you right then and there, but as long as you keep that respectful distance, you form an understanding with the puma. And then you can photograph it and come back with terrific images."

To see more of James Kao's work, go to www.jameskaofoto.com.