James grew up in New York City and attended the Germain School of Photography. After serving four years in the Navy as a Photographer's Mate, Olivari worked for photographers in New Your City and Denver, CO. He opened his own portrait studio in Rockwell City, IA in 1983. Even though he is still in the business of portraits and weddings, a change in lifestyle has afforded him some time to create some landscape photography from around N.W. Iowa.