News 8 announced the winner of the first ever Image Innovator contest, as part of the Image City “2025 Through the Student Lens” exhibit. Out of the dozens of local students who submitted their creative works, the votes overflowed for 15-year-old Archer Evans.
News 8’s Mikhaela Singleton caught up with Archer in the photography dark room at Allendale Columbia School. When asked what motivated him to put his skills to the test and enter the Image Innovator contest, Archer simply said “what do you have to lose by trying?”
He says he had never used film or a dark room before attending his freshman art class, but already he’s learned so many interesting techniques.
“There’s so many, like, other limitations during certain other classes. In photography, you get to be a little bit more expressive,” he explains.
Archer adds humbly he never expected to win. He says he was somewhat intimidated at first when attending the gallery exhibit and witnessing the amazing talent his peers had to offer.
“I was playing around with trying to make a black-and-white photo and trying to find some sort of color to pop into it, but I kind of went against that idea after seeing other kids try and do that,” Archer says when asked about his process. “It’s actually kind of funny, I got this kind of bubble blower and I thought it would be pretty cool if I just blew bubbles, like, on the photo.”
And in one try, he created his masterpiece—the Watergram Portrait—using a technique his teacher, Sara Rogers, says even she didn’t learn while studying art in college.
So many people loved Archer’s unique work that he took away 3,147 votes from visitors to WROC’s website. Thus landing him in the top spot as the first ever Image Innovator winner.
“Just the number [of votes] was insane to me when I first saw it. I didn’t expect that many people to even hear of my name,” Archer says.
Click the link below to view the clip that aired on WROC Channel 8. You will first see a brief advertisement and then you will see the broadcast.