Orcas Island High School students shine in prestigious photography contest

by Corey Wiscomb

Orcas High School teacher

In a statewide photography contest that drew an astounding 4,891 entries, five art students from Orcas Island High School earned prestigious recognition — demonstrating both the strength of the school’s visual arts program and the dedication of its students.

The annual photography competition, sponsored by Jones Soda, challenged students from across Washington to submit original photographic works, with top entries earning the chance to have their images printed on the label of a Jones Soda bottle and displayed in the Seattle Art Museum. Among the submissions, two Orcas Island students, Tommy Sprenger and Mira Johnson, were awarded “SELECT” ribbons, indicating that their work placed in the top 10% of all entries and advanced to the final round. Johnson had two separate photos earning recognition at this level.

Even more notably, students Elijah Griffith and Juliette McKenney were honored with “FINALIST” ribbons, placing their photographs among the top 18 images still in the running for the contest’s grand prize. Their work now stands a chance to be featured on an upcoming label of the iconic soda brand — a rare opportunity and a testament to their talent and artistic vision.

Griffith’s entry drew upon advanced techniques and deep conceptual underpinnings. “This photo was a planned project introduced to me by my Photography teacher Corey Wiscomb,” Griffith explained. “The goal was to imitate a distinctive style while creating our own unique work of art. I was trying to express variation and fragmentation by using photo cubism to overlap perspectives from multiple different photos and angles.”

Griffith added that his work is intended to provoke introspection. “I want people to notice that identity can fluctuate and has many layers based on how we feel or how others view us. I want them to look beyond the surface and investigate the complex inner self of every individual.”

McKenney, meanwhile, leaned into spontaneity and intuition with her landscape photograph, which was inspired by a recent visit to The Art Institute of Chicago. “My photo very much happened in the moment,” she said. “But I’d been looking at some Ansel Adams photos and thinking about trying to take some more landscape pictures, so it was sort of marinating in the back of my mind.”

Her photograph captured the stark, almost haunting terrain of the South Dakota Badlands. “I stood there and I imagined what it must have been like to try and get through these mountains and hills before there were cut roads, and how lost a person could get, all alone and unable to get home,” McKenney said. “I tried to capture how isolated and trapped the geology of this area can make you feel.”

Looking ahead, McKenney is eager to explore new creative avenues. “Possibly for a next project I’d love to do something that involves long exposures. I really like working with people in my photos, and I think being able to capture movement through long exposures would be really fun, since I feel like I often lose a lot of my models’ personality when I capture them in a single moment.”

Wiscomb praised the students’ work ethic and creativity, noting that their success was no accident. “These students committed themselves to the craft. They explored new techniques, pushed their artistic boundaries, and invested serious thought into what they wanted their work to say,” Wiscomb said. “It’s incredibly gratifying to see them receive recognition on this level.”

The community of Orcas Island has long supported its youth arts programs, but this level of achievement marks a particularly proud moment. As the finalist images await last judgment in the coming weeks, the island waits with bated breath to see if one of its own will soon have their art featured on a Jones Soda label, a testament not only to individual talent but to the strength of a creative community.