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On May 18, 1980, Richard “Dick” Lasher shot this epic photo of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. Lasher was forced to abandon his Pinto and flee the giant plume of ash on his motorcycle. Lasher survived.

Indeed, by the time he was unhooking the bike, the car was on fire.

Dick approached the eruption zone on purpose for a photo:

On the morning of May 18, 1980, Lasher, who was also a freelance photographer, headed towards Mount St. Helens in his bright red Ford Pinto. Lasher told Smith that his plan was to drive his Pinto as far as he could, then take his motorcycle, precariously hitched to the bumper, even closer. “He tried to get as close as possible,” Smith recalled. “I don't think at the time he knew just how close he was.”

He went back the next day for more photos—beyond the safety zone while rescuers were trying to locate and evacuate survivors of the eruption—and was promptly arrested by a helicopter team.

The article features one of Dick's original prints of his photo—uncropped with a little more upper tree line.

At the time it was written (2023), the journalist and Dick's former co-workers were unable to track him down:

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