Sports, musical events, portraits, architecture — you name it, Robert Hubner sees it through his lens. As university photographer in Marketing Communications, it is Hubner’s job to show the world WSU at its best, and it’s a job he loves to do.
“I’m an optimist,” he says. “I like to find the good things and show them off.” He’s been doing that as a full-time staff member for 19 years.
Hubner’s work has earned him a 2004 WSU President’s Employee Excellence Award, which is bestowed by the president following committee recommendations. The award recognizes outstanding contributions regarding productivity; innovative problem solving; positive working relations and community service.
Hubner’s work also has earned him the respect of colleagues.
WSU Today Editor Robert Frank described how nothing is too much trouble for Hubner when he’s in search of the right photo. “When I needed a shot of the WSU weathervane and the alumnus who had manufactured it, he climbed into a man-lift with the alumnus, went up about 30 feet in the air and got a shot of the man installing the vane from a bird’s-eye view.”
Hubner has always had great admiration for the work of Ansel Adams. When Hubner was in high school, he and a friend journeyed to Carmel, Calif., expressly to meet Adams, who was notably “gracious” to them. “It was a thrill,” Hubner said. “It also happened to be his 80th birthday, so every gallery in Monterey had his work on display, and we got to see a lot of his original prints.”
Back at WSU he was influenced by former university photographer Norm Nelson, who advised him that his job as a university photographer was to be a generalist, not to specialize. “I’ve taken that to heart. I actually enjoy that part of the job, that I don’t do the same thing day after day. I get to shoot sports, or do portraits, or the magazine, or whatever I’m called on to do, and that’s the great part of the job.”
When asked what excites him most about his work, Hubner exclaimed: “Absolutely everything! I get to do new and different things every day. No two days are exactly alike.
“And I get to learn every day. Whenever I go to photograph somebody, I ask questions. That’s part of the job, to build rapport, to build a better photograph. But I’m truly just terminally curious. I love to ask about the research that’s going on and what excites the people that I’m photographing.”
Hubner is quick to point out that his family, wife Tammie and son Danyon, deserve the credit for enduring his sometimes brutal schedule. “My wife understood when she married me that she was marrying a photographer, and she has never complained, though the hours are absurd sometimes. She’s very understanding that it’s my job to be there when the photos need to be taken. She’s always been very patient.”
No matter what the photographic assignment at WSU, Hubner is ready for it. He says: “The challenge is what I really enjoy
