Handy camera helps nurse win Lake Living winter cover contest

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  • Elaine Jones, left, of Hartwell, receives $100 from Michael Hall, publisher and editor of The Hartwell Sun. Jones’ photo of a heron flying over Lake Hartwell at sunrise (shown at right) was selected as the winning photo to be used on the cover of Lake Living magazine’s winter 2019 edition. (Photo/LaDonna Harris, CNI News Service)
    Elaine Jones, left, of Hartwell, receives $100 from Michael Hall, publisher and editor of The Hartwell Sun. Jones’ photo of a heron flying over Lake Hartwell at sunrise (shown at right) was selected as the winning photo to be used on the cover of Lake Living magazine’s winter 2019 edition. (Photo/LaDonna Harris, CNI News Service)
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Elaine Jones, of Hartwell, took the winning cover photo for the winter Lake Living.
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Elaine Jones likes to keep her camera handy, because living near Lake Hartwell, she knows a great picture is just around the corner. 

That was the case in February when she was returning to her home in Hartwell from Anderson, South Carolina, and the sun was painting the sky with beautiful colors. Knowing the moments to capture the best pictures are fleeting, she pulled over into the Hartwell Dam overlook just before leaving South Carolina, got her Cannon DSLR camera out with her 40 mm lens on it and pointed it toward Georgia.

What she captured is now an award-winning photo. Jones won the Lake Living Magazine cover photo contest for the winter 2019 edition with her picture of a heron flying over the water as the sun sets over the lake. 

“It’s just amazing,” Jones said of being recognized for her photography.

Jones regularly takes photos of landscapes and especially the scenery on and around Lake Hartwell. 

“I love capturing nature, and the serenity and peace of it,” Jones said. “It’s so pretty.” 

The nurse at Hart Care Center in Hartwell said the cover photo was a bit of anomaly for her, because she generally doesn’t take many winter photos. But when her friend told her she should enter the Lake Living cover contest, she nearly missed the deadline. Jones went back to her personal archive, found her favorite photo from the wintertime and turned it in just before contest’s deadline.

Her effort paid off — literally. The contest win netted Jones a crisp $100 bill, courtesy of the Northeast Georgia region of Community Newspapers Inc.

Jones has four children, Adam Lee, Justin Lee, Jamie Lee and Nolan Jones. She also has four grandchildren, Tristan, Teagan and Taige Hooper and Magnolia Lee. 

The region’s newspapers — The Hartwell Sun, The Franklin County Citizen-Leader, The White County News, The Clayton Tribune, The Dahlonega Nugget, The Northeast Georgian, The Toccoa Record and The Elberton Star — combine their efforts every spring, summer and winter to publish Lake Living magazine, which is on newsstands now. The magazine brings readers features and special stories of life in Northeast Georgia’s lake country. 

“We are proud to know a local woman will have her photo on the cover of the winter Lake Living,” said Michael Hall, publisher of The Hartwell Sun. “We know folks in Northeast Georgia will enjoy reading the magazine, as we did producing it. Elaine’s photo truly captures the essence of lake living.”