For 42 years, Bob Hubner has been telling Washington State University’s story through pictures. Hubner, WSU’s photo services manager, began working in a campus darkroom just out of high school. Two years later he was hired as a staff photographer.
His iconic images encompass all that is WSU, from Palouse sunsets to football action, students and faculty, research and reflection. He followed ROTC students into the air on a KC-135 refueling tanker and made the sad journey to Henderson, North Carolina, where former WSU President Elson S. Floyd was laid to rest.
His favorite event is the multicultural student graduation ceremony that takes place before commencement. “It’s such a beautiful celebration of family and accomplishment,” Hubner said. “It’s joy from beginning to end.”
The 1998 Rose Bowl was special and was the last bowl game he shot in film. ESPN College GameDay’s first visit to Pullman in 2018 was also a highlight, he says.
He knows his work will endure.
“I started working in the darkroom, mostly printing things out of the archives, which gave me a good perspective on the value of a photograph,” he said. “It’s valuable for the moment you take it, then it drops into obscurity until 10, 20, even 50 years later when it becomes valuable again. I love that arc.”
Take a look at some of Hubner’s photos:
