Ever since Diamond Bar High School senior Alicia Kuo was able to hold a camera, she has been capturing pictures as a hobby and, more recently, for the youth-led magazine “The Forerunner.”
She was first introduced to the magazine, which focuses on the arts and social commentary with a creative perspective, in November. Her friend, who was its editor-in-chief at the time, recommended her for a photographer position on the publication, which is released every three months.
“I wanted to join the magazine because I wanted the opportunity to showcase my work outside of my immediate family and friends and the team also seemed like a lot of fun,” Kuo said.
For each issue, Kuo is in charge of creating original content that corresponds with the theme, which could be anything from holiday events to social commentary, chosen for that issue. She attends art team meetings before the publication of every issue to finalize any details and plan for upcoming issues.
A hardship for Kuo is the time zone difference that she faces in communicating with other members of “The Forerunner,” who are in different parts of the world. She meets with various teams, including those for both art and writing, working around everybody’s schedules.
Her favorite photos she’s taken for the magazine are from a Valentine’s Day photoshoot. To capture the perfect shot, Kuo placed some dolls she had lying around in her home and staged shots of them on an “adventure” in her front yard to match the theme of love.
Kuo also has a photography Instagram account, @alicia_kuo_, where she posts her photos, which are mostly of nature and portraits. One of her posts, a photo of the Corona Del Mar state beach parking lot at sunset, was featured on LA Magazine’s Instagram feed. For the specific photo she had in mind, she went to the location several times and waited for the perfect lighting for her shot.
“My goal for my photography is to be able to make people feel happy when they look at my work,” Kuo said. “I go on my own little adventures, I post about them, and hopefully, people like it and start to support me.”
Kuo has only recently gotten back into her photography hobby during the pandemic. While she is self-taught, she explained that the art classes she took when she was younger helped influence her photography. She uses a Nikon camera and Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit her photos.
“I’ve always been mesmerized by the idea of being able to save a moment forever and I started because I wanted to make sure I could keep these memories for a long time,” Kuo said.
In the future, Kuo said she would like to continue photography and start her own business.