Mount St. Helens: Images of an Unexpected Landscape

Seattle photographer Mark Lembersky has spent the past twenty years chronicling the post-eruption rebirth of Mount St. Helens. A collection of his artistic and documentary images is presented for the first time in this beautiful new book, Mount St. Helens: Images of an Unexpected Landscape. With provocative photographs and informative captions, this visual essay captures the essence of the land, fills the reader with a sense of wonder at the scenes of revitalization and healing new growth, and evokes the true spirit of Mount St. Helens.

The photographic journey moves west along the ash-filled Toutle River; north past the road’s end and into the inner blast zone; east to Spirit Lake with its abundant signs of natural renewal; and south to scenes of ancient eruptions and modern mudflows. The unexpected images recall the dynamic forces of the mountain volcano—its destructive as well as life-giving powers, and the beauty of its shapes, delicate textures, and subtle colors. Sprawling aerial views and intimate wildlife pictorials reveal the splendor of the mountain that continues to be one of the most awe-inspiring natural settings in North America.

The story in these images is complemented by an original poem from Ursula K. Le Guin, written just two weeks after the eruption, and by former Senator Mark O. Hatfield’s foreword, which relates his personal involvement in the drama of the eruption.

Photography has taken Mark Lembersky all over the world, from far above the Arctic Circle to Antarctica, from Alaska and Canada’s northern territories to other remote locations such as Patagonia, the Himilayas, and Franz Joseph Land. He collaborated with naturalist David George Gordon on his earlier book, Nisqually Watershed: Glacier to Delta, a River’s Legacy, which was published by the Mountaineers in 1995. His photographs are featured in a number of permanent displays and visitor centers.

At the time of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Lembersky was raw materials research and development director for a major landowner adjacent to the mountain. His work brought him into intimate familiarity with the volcano and allowed him to document the impact of its eruption on the surrounding landscape.

Lembersky has donated the use of his images to many nonprofit organizations and has served on numerous boards of directors. He was Chairman and cofounder of a national award-winning computer graphics software company and was educated at MIT and Stanford University, where he earned a Ph.D. in operations research. In 1994, he served a one-year term as president of the 8,000-member international Institute of Management Sciences.

Lembersky’s work includes extensive images of northwestern U.S. locations. At present, he is working on a series of photographs that focus on remote railroad lines. Another project documents the landscape, wildlife, and artifacts of human presence in polar regions. A resident of the Northwest for 30 years, he now lives in Seattle, Washington.