BLUE GRASS — Most folks know Doug Puffenbarger as a school bus driver, cattle farmer, and maple syrup producer in the Blue Grass Valley. Some friends also know he’s a great photographer, but now, folks across Virginia will know that, too.

Recently, Sen. Mark Warner launched a contest to choose a cover photo of Virginia for his Facebook page, a social networking site. He asked his 16,500 page followers for submissions, of which three would be shown throughout the summer.

More than 150 were submitted.

Subsequently, the Senator explained he and his staff could not choose just three, and four were picked to grace the page, including a shot of Blue Grass by Puffenbarger.

Then, he asked voters to choose which one should be displayed first, and Puffenbarger’s got the most votes for that honor.

Doug Puffenbarger’s wife, Terri, has an eye for photography as well. She captured this double rainbow behind their home in Blue Grass last week. The photo is the first thing visitors to Warner’s page see, spread wide across the screen with the Senator’s message: “Welcome to my new page! And congratulations to Doug Puffenbarger. His photo of Blue Grass in Highland County got the most ‘likes’ and will be my first Timeline photo.”

The photo received several comments, such as, “Doug is a great photographer. Wonderful family living in the prettiest place in the state,” and, “No question about it, great decision. Love goes out to the men and women of Maple Country.” Another said, “Great choice. I grew up in Highland County (now reside in Midlothian) and it is truly a beautiful place.”

On Puffenbarger’s own page, a friend congratulated him, saying, “All of your images are superb and deserving of the winner status. It is hard to believe but the image of Blue Grass looks like it did 70 years ago, still pristine!”

Puffenbarger added his own comment to Warner’s site, noting it was a “great honor,” and congratulating the other winners.

The others chosen with the most votes included Robert Smith’s photo of a statue in Richmond, Mari Bonomi’s photo of gulls taken by the Rappahannock River, and Margaret Scott’s photo of a field near Yorktown.

This week, Warner told The Recorder, “I’m proud to feature the work of many great Virginia photographers on my Facebook page. However, Doug’s photo of Blue Grass really stood out to me and almost 100 other people who supported it. It’s a honor to serve a state with such incredible natural diversity and I congratulate Doug on capturing the essence of one of our most beautiful areas.”

Warner said Puffenbarger’s photo was “liked” 104 times in the original contest and 93 times in the final round, where followers decided which photo the senator would feature first. It got far and away the most likes in the original contest of any photo, he said.

“I believe that social media is an invaluable tool for connecting with people from all walks of life and all over Virginia,” Warner had stated previously. “And what better way to use it than to celebrate the diverse beauty of our commonwealth?”

Warner, a co-founder of the wireless company, Nextel, and technology investor, has been at the forefront of adopting social media as a form of communication with constituents. The senator frequently holds Twitter and video town halls, and posts updates, photos and videos from his travels across Virginia on his Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube pages. Currently, he has more than 25,000 followers on Twitter and his 257 videos on YouTube have been viewed more than 83,000 times.

Warner’s office will open another contest for photos of Virginia during the fall.