He took note of the upswelling of Mt. St. Helens. He died near the mountain’s base as it erupted in May of 1980. This picture of his was taken from a plane above the mountain about five weeks before the mountain blew off its lid. The photos he took on this day from the plane remained forgotten inside film canisters until very recently. Someone found them, opened them, and developed the film very carefully. The photos Reid Blackburn took the day of the eruption were destroyed in the blast. He saw what others only heard about later.