Longtime Jay resident Kelly Whitman received an additional $100 to spend for the holiday season, thanks to a photo she took with her smart phone. Whitman’s photo, capturing the rural farm life of Jay, won the first-ever ‘Heart of Jay’ photo contest sponsored by the Jay Area Chamber of Commerce.
According to JACC president Nick Jackson, Whitman’s photo was one of 16 entries selected in the contest.
Jackson said the photos featured in the contest show a broad spectrum of Jay from the painted murals in the town to the cotton fields.
In addition to featuring the rural town’s appeal, Jackson said the contest’s aim was to bring more people to the JACC’s Facebook page.
The contest brought the Facebook account over a hundred likes, he said.
“I have a feeling we will be doing this again,” he said.
Whitman said she was excited upon learning her photo had won the contest. Whitman said she enhanced the photo by using the Snapseed application, a photo editing software, on her smart phone.
“It only takes a few minutes (to use),” she said.
Whitman said the photo was taken at a field in Jay near Chumuckla.
Whitman said she plans on possibly exploring more options when it come to photography, when she isn’t working as an exceptional student education instructor at Jay Elementary School.
“I always like taking pictures,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Longtime resident captures ‘Heart of Jay’ in photo contest