“He’s highly creative, very technically proficient and innovative,” said Port Townsend High School media studies teacher Mark Welch of his student Luke Anderson, who last month was one of the top finalists in the Professional Photographers of Washington’s 2017 Student Photographer of the Year contest.

“He has a wonderful eye for composition detail.”

Anderson, a senior, received third place in the competition. He got into photography after taking Welch’s video production class, and became serious about photography in his junior year.

“It’s fun for me to be as original as I can,” said Anderson of his photos, which he edits and experiments with in Photoshop. He’s fascinated with taking photos of people, “but not usually how they’re portrayed” (think optical illusions) and also enjoys taking photos of simpler images.

“It’s really fun to do just landscapes,” said Anderson, who also enjoys hiking and backpacking. “He continually pushes himself to improve his work and to try new directions,” Welch said.

This fall, Anderson is set to attend Western Washington University, where he plans to study graphic design.