Wilson resident Gerri Jones picked up her first camera eight years ago when her husband bought her a small point-and-shoot.

Now, the dental assistant and mother of four never leaves her digital camera behind.

"You never know when you re going to come onto a scene," Jones said. "You never know when you re going to find something interesting with the weather that we have."

A routine trip this June to Lockport for errands led Jones to capture two vivid scenes along the Erie Canal that will be featured in the 2010 Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor calendar due out this fall.

The pictures are among three images of the canal in Western New York that will be featured in the statewide calendar.

Jones, who considers herself an "amateur enthusiast" in photography, snagged second and third place in the "Bridges, Buildings and Locks" category out of 525 entries for the National Heritage Corridor s annual photo contest.

Another photograph, submitted by the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. in Buffalo, won first place in the "For the Fun of It" category and will also be featured in the calendar. That photograph shows red, white and blue fireworks exploding over the new Erie Canal Harbor redevelopment project on the Fourth of July.

"It shows the rejuvenation of Buffalo s waterfront," said Matthew Davison, Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. spokesman. "It s not a shot that people think of when they think of urban Buffalo."

Jones said she has been fascinated by the Erie Canal since living in Lockport for a time with her husband before they moved to Wilson. She said she wanted to document the work that has been done to restore buildings along the canal.

"They ve really fixed the area up down there for tourists," Jones said. "The canal is such an important part of our history in this whole area."

Her winning photographs feature a tour boat gliding through Locks 34 and 35 and the intricate underside of a bridge that crosses the canal in Lockport.

Since getting her first small camera eight years ago, Jones has upgraded to a single-lens reflex camera and has set up a Web site —

www.gerrijonesphotography.com

— to show off her portfolio. But it s still a hobby and creative

outlet for Jones. A California native, she said she finds beauty among the region s rural areas, architecture, parks and snow.

"I try to go to new places," Jones said, "but with the seasonal changes in our area, it provides a fresh look all the time for the same places."

The calendars will be distributed in November at area libraries and other sites, said Jean MacKay, spokeswoman for the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.