Sports Illustrated

Luck Happens when Preparation Meets Opportunity

Shortly before January 1, 2009, I decided that I was going to go flying above the Rose Bowl Game and take some pictures of the band formations. Maybe if I was lucky, I would be able to get some photos of the B-2 Spirit (Stealth Bomber) too. I had an idea of what kind of shot I wanted to get, but I had no idea if I was going to be able to get it. So I put myself in position above the field and watched the band perform the National Anthem below. Luckily, I saw the B-2 a few seconds before it came up on the stadium, just after the fireworks on the field went off, and turned the plane quickly to place it over the stadium and in my viewfinder. I fired off a few photos as it flew low over the stadium and then it was gone, disappearing over Pasadena. When I looked at my photos on the back of the camera, it was hard to tell how it looked (the back screens are a bit small), but when I zoomed in a little, I saw that I had something very, very cool in the last photo!

Once I got back to the office I sent the photo to some friends and family, just to share. I still couldn't believe I captured such a rare moment. The next day my son thought we should send it to Sports Illustrated and we wrote an email to the photo editor that said something along the lines of "We think our photo would look great on the cover!" While the photo editor didn't quite agree, he did think it would look as a two-page spread, which I was more than happy with.

The Sports Illustrated Magazine with the B-2 Flyover photo pictured below