The beauty of the Gila Wilderness is now on display to tourists who stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Silver City. Photographs by Jay Hemphill, ’03, were recently selected as the display artwork for the 73-room hotel.
“We heard about Jay’s work and we wanted local pictures to make this property unique to the area,” explained hotel owner Jill Olson. “I love the pictures because they look just like Southwest New Mexico.”
Hemphill is recognized regionally for his photography of the Gila Wilderness, often depicting vast landscapes. Aside from his role as the university photographer for Western New Mexico University, Hemphill is a freelancer for New Mexico Magazine and High Country Times. He recently photographed images for an upcoming cookbook by Rob Connoley of the Curious Kumquat restaurant in Historic Downtown Silver City.
Nearing the end of an extensive renovation project for the Silver City-based hotel, the photographs, both in black and white and color, now adorn 73 rooms with the plan of a large areal image of the WNMU campus to be hung in the breakfast bar.
“I enjoy photographing the area because of the dynamic natural light,” said Hemphill, a Kansas native who earned his baccalaureate degree in photography from WNMU in 2003. “The clear skies and the clarity of the area lend themselves very well to landscape photography.”
Hemphill’s photos of the Gila Wilderness were recently on display at the Silver City Museum. He was contracted to document the aftermath of the White Water-Baldy Complex Fire, a 2012 wildfire that burned nearly 300,000 acres in the Gila National Forest.
Hemphill moved to Silver City in 1999 on a tennis scholarship to play for the Mustangs. He earned his BFA degree in photography in 2003.