Reid Blackburn

Photography Appreciation

I remember watching a mountain erupt on TV and trying to make sense of it, when I was young. My parents tried to explain that it was Mount St. Helens, a volcano. It wasn't until the made-for-TV film "St. Helens, Killer Volcano," which came out a year later, when I understood the level of scariness. 

Twenty years later, I was able to visit Mount St. Helens with my ex-wife and daughter. Driving up the winding road to the Johnston Ridge Observatory provided a sense of appreciation of the volcano's power. News reported trees were ripped out of the ground 17 miles from the crater. Fifty-seven people perished on May 18, 1980.

One of those individuals was photojournalist Reid Blackburn, who had been assigned to document the volcano's activities.

Born on August 11, 1952, Blackburn attended Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. In a National Geographic article, Reid was said to have "the incisive eye of the born portrait photographer, capturing a face precisely when the mask falls away to reveal an instant of truth." 

He began working at The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Washington, as a photojournalist in 1975. He was also a freelance photographer for the National Geographic and United States Geological Survey. 

In May 1980, Blackburn set up camp at Coldwater I, about eight miles from the mountain's north flank--a spot that was thought to be safe. His job was to remotely trigger cameras that were set facing the north face of the volcano. 

Although he was due back down from the mountain on May 17th, he decided to stay. Perhaps, as his wife, Fay, said in a newspaper interview, Blackburn wanted to get that shot of his career.  

At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale started a rapid series of event as The Columbian reported "Massive landslide uncorked an unexpected lateral blast that sent a superheated cloud of ash and rock roaring down the Toutle River valley." The total avalanche volume was about 3.3 billion cubic yards. 

The Columbian reported that "Blackburn had only enough time to get in his car before he was caught in the superheated cloud of ash, pumice and gas." His vehicle was spotted in mud and ash the following day. All his photos were destroyed by the eruption.

Reid Blackburn (circa 1971-1974)

FBI agents in 1980 on the shores of the 

Columbia River, looking for money or clues

Reid's last roll shot five weeks before eruption

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.columbian.com/news/2010/apr/01/victims-volcanos-toll-hits-home/

Koenninger, Tom (May 23, 1980), "We Ache, for Reid was One of Us". Spokane Daily Chronicle.

https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st.-helens/1980-cataclysmic-eruption

https://avalonlibrary.net/National_Geographic/National%20Geographic%201981-01%20159-1%20Jan.pdf

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/12/31/postscript-to-an-eruption-newly-discovered-photos-by-reid-blackburn

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/08/02/us/COOPER-2.html

https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/lca_photos/304