Robert Emerson Landsburg (November 13, 1931 – May 18, 1980) was an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

who died while photographing the

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive er ...

.Staff report (January 1981). Robert Landsburg's brave final shots. '' National Geographic''Associated Press (June 5, 1980). Another body found in volcano area.Associated Press (June 6, 1980). Red tape battled. St. Helens sedate. ''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base in ...

'' He was born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, and was a resident of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, at the time of his death. In the weeks leading up to the eruption, Landsburg visited the area many times in order to photographically document the changing volcano.Bunce, Vincent (2000). "Restless Planet: Volcanoes", p.44. Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, Austin. . On the morning of May 18, he was within a few miles of the summit. When the mountain erupted, Landsburg took photos of the rapidly approaching ash cloud. Before he was engulfed by the

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...

, he rewound the film back into its case, put his camera in his backpack, and then laid himself on top of the backpack to protect its contents. His body was found 17 days later, buried in the ash with his backpack underneath. The film was developed and has provided geologists with valuable documentation of the historic eruption.Robert Coenraads (2006). "Natural Disasters and How We Cope", p.50. Millennium House, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landsburg, Robert 1931 births 1980 deaths Deaths in volcanic eruptions Natural disaster deaths in Washington (state) Photographers from Oregon Artists from Seattle Photographers from Washington (state) Artists from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American photographers

See also

References