Mount St Helens

 

Home
About
Portraits
Weddings
Event / Sports
Animal / Insect
Nature & Misc
Landscape / Scenic
Mount St Helens

Mt St Helens Photo Gallery:


When Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980 at 08:32:21, a cataclysmic chain of events occurred almost simultaneously. A 5.1-magnitude earthquake beneath the volcano shook the large bulge on the north face of the mountain loose, causing the entire north half of the mountain to slide downhill.

That landslide released the pressure underneath. The rock, ash, and glacial ice exploded sideways to the north at nearly the speed of sound. Nearby forested areas were sandblasted to bare rock, and trees 17 miles away were burned and killed. Ash also shot 15 miles up into the air and the volcano continued to erupt for nine more hours.

The intense heat melted 70 percent of the snow and glaciers on the mountain. As the water rushed down the steep slopes it mixed with the ash and landslide debris to form a mudflow that moved at speeds up to 80 miles per hour.

I witnessed the events as they unfolded that Sunday morning. I was 34 miles west of the mountain on a hilltop with an unobstructed view. A good friend and I had just stopped at the hilltop viewpoint while on an early morning dirt bike ride when the ground violently shook. My friend was facing the mountain when suddenly his face had the look of total shock...  he was speechless!

I was only 16 years old, but I'll never forget the fear that was going through me when I turned to my speechless friend and said, "Holly #@*%, this is the big one!"  I was in such a state of shock, I was never able to recall anything about the ride home.  I just remember coming down my parents street and seeing my mom out in the front yard, praying that it was my motorcycle she was hearing coming down the road. She had feared that we'd ridden up towards the mountain, as we often did. She almost knocked me off the bike hugging me...

Fifty-seven people lost their lives that day and the beautiful mountain, along with its scenic surroundings, were forever changed.

Nowadays, I travel up to Mt St Helens approximately 30 times a year photographing her; never tiring of her majestic beauty.


Please enjoy the Mt St Helens Photo Gallery.


Play Flash Slide Show  (1784KB)

Click on thumbnails image below to view photos

Click on thumbnails image above to view photos

Play Flash Slide Show  (1784KB)


Pay securely with any major credit card or personal check through PayPal!
Pay me securely with any major credit card through PayPal!
Visa MasterCard Discover American Express eCheck
 

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

The Copyright Act protects photographers by giving the author of the photograph the exclusive right to reproduce your photographs. This includes the right to control the making of copies.

It is illegal to copy, scan, or reproduce these photographs elsewhere without our permission, and violators of this Federal Law will be subject to its civil and criminal penalties.

We will try to accommodate all reasonable requests. Please feel free to discuss your needs with us so that we may have the opportunity to serve you better.

More information on copyrights and laws to protect photographers can be found at the
U.S. Copyright Office web site.
 


Shawn Smoak  shawn@fzrphotography.com.
Copyright © 2002 ~ 2014 by [FZR Photography]. All rights reserved.