Ashton Thornhill

The Texas Tech Office of International Affairs is pleased to have Ashton Thornhill as the juror for the 20^th Annual High and Dry photography competition.

Ashton Thornhill is a photographer working on the Llano Estacado of Texas. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he grew up in Washington D.C. He studied at Texas Tech University. After earning a B.B.A in Finance and a M.A in photography/film he worked several years as a photojournalist. In 1979 Ashton, his wife Susan and their son Jonathan returned to Lubbock and joined the faculty at Texas Tech University. He taught photography for the next twenty-nine years.

His photographic interest primarily lays in the distinctive environs of West Texas and the Llano Estacado. He had workshops with Ansel Adams, Kate Breakey, Keith Carter, Annie Liebovitz, and W. Eugene Smith, among others. Grounded as a black and white, silver gelatin photographer, Thornhill reluctantly embraced digital tools more than two decades ago. Ashton now makes his photographs digitally and prints with the best color inks and most stable papers available.

He received the Presidential Teaching award from Texas Tech University.  His photographs have won numerous awards in national exhibits and are in the permanent collections of the Grace Museum, The Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda, MD, the Harry Ranson Center at the University of Texas - Austin, the Lea County Museum in Lovington, NM and the Southwest Collection: Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

He is a long-time supporter and friend of the High and Dry Exhibition.

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