Friends SOAR to contest win

Plan shopping spree with $500 winnings

Michelle Stuckey/Herald Guide

Brandi Chilton and Emily Gueho, both of Destrehan, are really jumping for joy now that their photo "This is fun!" has won the $500 grand prize in the Herald-Guide’s Camera Shootout contest.

When Jill and Ronald Chilton entered their first photo in the contest last April, they never dreamed it would surpass all of the other monthly winners to earn the year-end prize.

Jill took the picture of Brandi and Emily as they jumped into the air while having fun on a nice spring afternoon. The 11-year-old cousins are in 6th grade at Ethel Schoeffner Elementary.

The girls are best friends and can’t wait to go on a shopping spree at the mall with the prize money.

Jill said she has never had photography training and that she was surprised the jumping shot turned out nicely.

"I just got lucky that it looked like they were up in the air," she said. "They’re so excited."