Blair served for two years as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, spending part of that time assisting refugees from North Vietnam.
He put together a solo show at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and co-authored the book Listen With the Eye with poet Samuel Hazo.
Success with his National Geographic assignments brought him to the staff in 1962, where he happily spent over thirty years; by 1994 he had accumulated 46 articles and over 2,000 pictures.
In 1977, Blair received the Overseas Press Club of America Award for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad for his 1976 coverage of South Africa.
His photography is featured in National Geographic's best-selling book The Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk, published in 2004.