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Back to Football

2014-09-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

BACK TO FOOTBALL

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

September 5, 2014

The NFL brands its kickoff weekend as BACK TO FOOTBALL, but I’ve been in football mode for months now. This summer, I had the opportunity to do photo shoots with 14 of the 32 NFL teams for CBS Sports’ Thursday Night Football coverage. Sadly, I cannot share any of the images until after they air on the TNF broadcasts. If you want to see them, then I suggest watching CBS/NFL Network on Thursdays starting in Week Two.

I used the extra funds to upgrade my camera equipment and have officially gone full frame, as well as switching my main camera from Canon to Sony. I’ll be posting soon a blog on why I made the switch, but until then BACK TO FOOTBALL. In addition to the photo shoots, I again shot Arena Football games for ArenaFan.com. However, with my hectic schedule with basketball and life, I only covered three San Jose SaberCats games this year, which is my fewest Arena games in a season since 1991 (not including the 2009 year without the AFL).

Though my regular season kicks off this Sunday in Kansas City as the Chiefs host the Tennessee Titans, I’ve did three New York Jets preseason games (at Cincy, home vs. the Giants and at Philly). The three Jets games have propelled the Gang Green to 33 games I’ve covered in my now 15th season with CBS Sports, which is the most of any team. Tied for second most with 32 games are the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans.

The 2014 NFL season brings me to a new crew as the on-site graphics statistician. If you’re watching games with Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon calling all the action, then you’ll be seeing my football Rain Man skills at work. For five weeks this fall, I will be also doing some college football games, including the Notre Dame-Navy game at FedEx Field, the day after Thanksgiving game Arkansas-Mizzou game in Columbia and the Mountain West Championship game (hopefully either Boise State or Hawaii host so I can cross off another state capitol building).

THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS

I’ve been assigned my first four weeks and in addition to this Sunday in KC; I will be covering the Atlanta-Cincy, KC-Miami and Tennessee-Indy games in September. I have Week Five circled with the possibility of crossing off another stadium in my quest for a time lapse in all of them. That week, Jacksonville hosts Pittsburgh, San Diego hosts the NY Jets and San Francisco hosts the Chiefs in the brand-new Levi’s Stadium. It’s a CBS double-header weekend with the other games being Cleveland at Tennessee, Houston at Dallas and Baltimore at Indianapolis. I’m pulling for the 49ers; but would be very happy with Jacksonville or San Diego.

MORE ON STADIUM TIME LAPSES

The other weekends that I could possibly get these elusive quartet of stadiums would be:

WEEK 8 (10/26): Miami at Jacksonville; Oakland at Cleveland

WEEK 12 (11/16): Houston at Cleveland; Oakland at San Diego

WEEK 13 (11/23): Washington at San Francisco

WEEK 15 (12/14): Cincinnati at Cleveland; Denver at San Diego

WEEK 16 (12/20): San Diego at San Francisco

In addition, I’m pulling for games in Tampa Bay (Week SIX vs Baltimore and/or Week 13 vs Cincinnati) and New England (Week 15 vs. Miami and/or Week 17 vs. Buffalo) because I only have night time lapses for those teams (plus the Bucs have a new logo). For Week Six, I will be doing an early afternoon college game and hope that I can make it to Tampa the next morning.

PRESIDENTIAL GRAVE UPDATE

Since my last post in January, I’ve added some more US Presidential final resting places to my collection and now I have 22 of the 44 presidents. When I’m in Indy next, I’ll be adding Benjamin Harrison. After that, it may be until basketball season before I add another since the remaining ones aren’t very close to the NFL cities. Same goes for the state capitol buildings.

-- AndysPictures.com --

January 2014 Recap

2014-02-04T10:56:00.002-08:00

January 2014 Recap

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

I was slammed this past month with work, photo shoots and games; so I didn’t get a chance to write up weekly recaps of my photo exploits. Here’s a look back at the first month of 2014. I covered three college basketball games and an NFL playoff game for the month. For the three hoops games, I did photo shoots; but only shot the home teams due to timing conflicts with the road teams.

HOOPS: DUKE AT NOTRE DAME

IRISH SHOOT

After getting home late on New Year’s Eve from the Sun Bowl, I left San Jose on NYE for South Bend, Indiana to do a photo shoot with the Notre Dame Fighting’ Irish men’s hoops team. I photographed six players for the CBS telecast of the Duke game. Notre Dame upended the #7 Blue Devils 79-77 in the Irish’s first ACC game.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS GALLERY

PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION

After the shoot, I got access to the football stadium and the locker room to get some scenic photos of the historic venue.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS GALLERY

AROUND CAMPUS

Next, I walked around campus getting some new photos of Touchdown Jesus and the inside of the Golden Dome. Unfortunately, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart was closed for renovations. Notre Dame is an awesome place to visit like going to Lambeau Field in Green Bay (has a similar feel too); but I cannot imagine living in either place.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS GALLERY

TWO ND TIME LAPSES

I had a corner time lapse of the Purcell Pavilion the last time I was here the same weekend two years earlier; so I set up the Canon 40D with the Canon 17-40mm L lens at high midcourt and put the GoPro Hero 2 in the rafters above the rim.

NFL PLAYOFF: INDIANAPOLIS AT NEW ENGLAND

BOSTON NIGHT SHOTS

Looking at my vast photo collection, I noticed that I had hardly any night shots of Boston; so I braved the cold for about six hours and walked about three miles along the Freedom Trail.

RHODE ISLAND STATE CAPITOL

I’ve photographed this numerous times, but this time I got a prime hotel room and got a day-to-night time lapse and also had time to get interior photos of the capitol building.

GILLETTE STADIUM TIME LAPSES

To me, this was the highlight of the entire month as I added another NFL home venue to my time lapse collection. I now have 29 of the 32 current home stadiums (only need Cleveland, Jacksonville and San Diego). Sadly, the game was at night so I’ll still need to get a daytime time lapse at some point. I set up three cameras to create the time lapse below: GoPro Hero 2 in the end zone; GoPro Hero 3 in the corner (in the Press Box) and the Canon 40D with the Sigma 10-20mm lens on the sidelines). Look how the rain pours down, then stops throughout the game.

FIVE MINUTES ON THE FIELD

During pregame, it was a torrential downpour; so I braved a cheap poncho and went out to get some quick shots. I was out there for maybe five minutes and got some of my best shots of the 2013 season. The Patriots won easily 43-22 thanks to 166 yards on the ground and four touchdowns by RB LaGarrette Blount.

HOOPS: OKLAHOMA STATE AT KANSAS

JAYHAWKS SHOOT

Kansas wore its PHOG alternate uniforms for the photo shoot that featured “Kansas” in a circus font similar to the 1988 National Champions. I photographed eight Jayhawks: Tarik Black, Perry Ellis, Joel Embiid, Frank Mason, Wayne Selden, Naadir Tharpe, Jamari Traylor and Andrew Wiggins

Kansas beat Oklahoma State, which I didn’t photograph, 80-78 thanks to a dominate performance by Embiid, who scored 13 points, rebounded eleven balls and blocked eight shots.

According to DraftExpress.com, Kansas is projected to have the top to picks in the 2014 draft with Embiid going first and Wiggins going second. Additionally, the site has Selden going 22nd.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS GALLERY

AROUND CAMPUS

Before the shoot, I drove around Kansas’ campus and nabbed some shots. I tried to get into the football stadium; but it was locked up.

EISENHOWER GRAVE
I drove from Lawrence to Abilene the day before the game to add to my photo collection of presidential graves to snap shots of Dwight Eisenhower's final resting place, library and boyhood home. Adding Ike put my tally to 16.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PRESIDENTIAL GRAVE COLLECTION

INSIDE KANSAS STATE CAPITOL
On the way back from the Eisenhower Library, I stopped in Topeka and got some interior shots of the capitol building.

ALLEN FIELDHOUSE TIME LAPSE

I’ve previously created two time lapses at historic Allen Fieldhouse (one in the right corner and the other at midcourt). This time, I put one in the left corner a bit tighter to show mainly the court.

HOOPS: SYRACUSE AT MIAMI

HURRICANES SHOOT

Miami wore its green road jerseys for the photo shoot. I snapped shots of five players: Garrius Adams, Rion Brown, James Kelly, Donnavan Kirk and Manu Lecomte.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS GALLERY

MIAMI BEACH LIFEGUARD TOWERS

Friday, I headed to South Beach to get some new shots of the lifeguard towers.

BRITTO

On the way to the hotel, I stopped at Target to get something to drink; then I noticed next to it a huge Romero Britto art piece at the Dadeland Metrorail station. Its name is “Mr. Happy.”

BANKUNITED CENTER TIME LAPSE

The Hurricanes’ intimate 8,000-seat arena, the BankUnited Center, became my 20th different home college time lapse. I set up three different cameras to capture midcourt (GoPro Hero 3), behind the hoop (GoPro Hero 2) and corner (Canon 7D with Sigma 10-20mm lens).

A LOOK AHEAD TO FEBRUARY

I have upcoming four hoops games and three of them will be at new venues for time lapses. My games are: Michigan at Indiana, Michigan State at Wisconsin, Pittsburgh at North Carolina and Louisville at Cincinnati. I’ve previously been to Madison twice for games (getting time lapses in 2011 and 2013). It will be my first games at UNC and Cincy (though I did shoot a Bearcats football game in 2012). As for Indiana, I’ve been twice previously, but it will be my first since 2001 (and obviously I don’t have a time lapse there).

-- AndysPictutes.com --

South Beach & the Sun Bowl…Again

2014-01-03T12:57:00.001-08:00

South Beach & the Sun Bowl…Again

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

December 29-31, 2013

For the second time in the past three seasons, I ended the year with a Jets-Dolphins game in Miami and the Sun Bowl. Only this time the games were switched with the NFL game on 12/29 and the Sun Bowl as usual at high noon on New Year’s Eve. In 2011, I did the Sun Bowl that Utah won in overtime 30-27 on New Year’s Eve and then covered the Dolphins’ 19-17 win over the Jets on New Year’s Day 2012, which was the last NFL contest for future Hall of Famers Jason Taylor and LaDainian Tomlinson. This time, the Jets won and likely it will be the last game ever played by future HOFer Ed Reed, who picked off his 64th pass in the game.

JETS 20, DOLPHINS 7

New York eliminated Miami from the playoffs with the surprising win after trailing 7-0 then scoring the game’s final 20 points. Jets rookie QB Geno Smith surpassed the 3,000-yard passing mark on the season during the game. He ran for a touchdown in the game. Rookie defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson pounded in the other Jets touchdown giving him two on the season (I covered the other one at Carolina two weeks earlier) which tied William “Refrigerator” Perry for the most rushing scores in a season by a defensive lineman. The Fridge also did it in his rookie year (of 1985 when the Bears won the Super Bowl).

For the Dolphins, receiver Brian Hartline went over 1,000 yards for the second time, but was injured on the play and missed the rest of the game. Without his favorite receiver, Ryan Tannehill struggled and at one point threw three interceptions in the span of eleven pass attempts.

This game marked by 275th NFL contest that I’ve covered since “turning pro” in 1997. Additionally, this became my 30th Jets game covered. Here’s a look at the teams I’ve covered the most during my CBS tenure and their respective records in those contests.

TEAM	MOST CBS GAMES	RECORD
1. Baltimore	32	16-16
Houston	32	12-20
3. Cincinnati	31	9-22
4. NY Jets	30	14-16
5. Jacksonville	26	8-18

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PREGAME PHOTOS OF THIS GAME

SUN LIFE STADIUM TIME LAPSE

I’ve done two 50-yard line time lapses here in the past, so with it supposed to pour down rain I only put out the GoPro Hero 2 for a really unique shot. I place it in the low end zone behind the goal post and a tarp with the Dolphins logo. I was a bit scared that the camera might get stolen since it was literally in front of fans (see photo below). It worked out though and is truly a great time lapse.

As you can see, the clouds are amazing (though it was very overcast). You cannot see much game action because it’s so low but I think the sky makes up for it as does the moving tarp in the wind. Notice at the very end as the ground crew takes down the goal post.

THIRD SUN BOWL

In the past five years, I’ve now covered the Sun Bowl three times. My first trip to El Paso was in 2008 when Oregon State beat Pittsburgh 3-0 in the lowest scoring bowl game since 1959. In the game, Victor Butler posted four sacks and 11 tackles. It was also the 75th edition of the Sun Bowl. Three years later, I returned as Utah beat Georgia Tech 30-27 in overtime with Utes running back John White scoring the game winner to go with 115 yards on the ground.

2013 SUN BOWL: UCLA 42, VIRGINIA TECH 12

Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley had a career day on the ground rushing for 161 yards on ten carries with two scores. He had an 86-yard rushing touchdown and another from seven yards out. His previous career high was just 85 total rushing yards. Hundley also threw two more scores in the win.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY SUN BOWL PHOTOS

#1 PICK & HOFer ADDED

Bruce Smith, who played at Virginia Tech and was the #1 overall pick of the 1986 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, was at the Sun Bowl. Smith is the NFL’s all-time leader in sacks and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. With one photo, I added him to my collection of #1 overall NFL picks (CLICK HERE TO VIEW) and NFL Hall of Famers (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). Smith became my 22nd #1 overall pick I’ve photographed.

SUN BOWL TIME LAPSE

When I was here in 2011, I got a corner time lapse of the game (CLICK HERE TO VIEW); so I set up sideline shots in the broadcast booth as well as one in the end zone. This time, I set up three time lapses – one in the end zone, another at the 50-yard line and the third in the broadcast booth.

UP NEXT: Duke at Notre Dame Hoops

Next week, I’ll be making my third trip to South Bend, Indiana to cover the Duke-Notre Dame college basketball game. Aside from the NFL playoff game the week after ND, I’m now into basketball mode the rest of the way.

-- AndysPictures.com --

It’s Always Cold in Kansas City

2013-12-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

It’s Always Cold in Kansas City

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

December 21-22, 2013

Kansas City is known for having the most fountains of any city outside of Rome, but when it’s cold outside said fountains are turned off. Thus, KC has no fountains when I've been here for my five Chiefs home games, all of which have occurred in late November or December. Saturday was overcast with freezing rain throughout the day that continued until Sunday afternoon, but was still overcast for my entire time in KC.

Since I couldn't get great shots of KC due to the weather, here’s a look at my favorite Kansas City photos.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY KANSAS CITY PHOTO GALLERIES

TRUMAN LIBRARY

Ten minutes from Arrowhead Stadium in Independence, MO is the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. With the crappy weather, I figured that inside shooting would be best. This was the first presidential library and features a replica of the Truman Oval House and lots of exhibits showcasing his presidency.

A lot happened in his first four months as president after taking over for FDR, who died in office. Both fronts of World War II ended and Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb twice in Japan.

In addition, Truman is buried in the courtyard and is now the 15th former U.S. Presidential final resting spot I’ve photographed.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PRESIDENTIAL BURIAL SPOTS GALLERY

COLTS 23, CHIEFS 7

A week removed from his five-touchdown explosion, Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles popped off a 31-yards ground score to put the Chiefs up 7-0. However, the visiting Colts ran off the game’s final 23 points to win the game. The KC loss coupled with Denver win gave the Broncos at least the #2 seed in the AFC and the Chiefs clinched the #5 seed and will be on the road for the playoffs.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY PREGAME SHOTS OF THIS GAME

ARROWHEAD STADIUM TIME LAPSE

I set up two cameras in the press box due to the cold and the lack of space in the end zone to put my cameras. The 40D with the Sigma 10-20mm lens was set up in the far left corner and the GoPro Hero 3 was at the 50-yard line. For the GoPro, I purchased the “frame” so I could hook up power since the battery sucks. It worked well and as did the press box set up.

UP NEXT: Miami & El Paso again

I conclude 2013 with a double dip in Miami for the Jets-Dolphins game on Sunday and the 80th Sun Bowl on Tuesday featuring the 8-4 Virginia Tech Hokies and the 9-3 UCLA Bruins. It will be my third Sun Bowl in the past five years. Interestingly enough, the last time I did the Sun Bowl (in 2011) my NFL game that week was also the Jets-Dolphins in Miami.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Carolina on my mind

2013-12-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

Carolina on my mind

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

December 14-15, 2013

A lot has changed since the last time I did a game in Charlotte. It was over five years ago and the city as well as the Carolina Panthers look a whole lot different. The city skyline has three new skyscrapers that weren’t here back in 2009. As for the Panthers, former Heisman Trophy winner and #1 overall pick Cam Newton leads Carolina, which started this year 1-3 before winning nine of its last ten games.

Sadly, it was raining all day Saturday; which doesn’t make for great skyline photos with the washed out sky and low visibility. After checking in at the trucks, I drive 90 miles south to Columbia, South Carolina to get the state capitol building. Of course, the weather went from bad to worse overnight and there was fog so dense that you couldn’t see more than a hundred feet away. I was planning on getting sunrise shots of the skyline, but there was no skyline to be found Sunday morning until around 10am.

STATE CAPITOL #41

And then there were nine. After the game, I drove to Columbia, South Carolina to snap a shot of the South Carolina State Capitol, which made it the 41st one in my collection. The remaining nine state caps I need are: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont. Though I’ve shot 41 capitols, I’ve been to 43 different states (Hawaii & Iowa).

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY STATE CAPITOL PHOTO GALLERY

Here’s a map of the states in which I’ve photographed their capitol buildings.

CHARLOTTE SCULPTURE AT AIRPORT

This great 15-foot sculpture of Queen Charlotte, who the city was named after, was moved from a high pedestrian part of the airport to the daily parking lots. It was a bit hard to find, but was well worth the effort. Charlotte was queen consort to George III, who was King of England during the time of the Revolutionary War.

ASPIRE STATUE

I love this sculpture. Located at Central Piedmont Community College, Aspire is bronze-cast sculpture created by Greg Wyatt.

LAKERS 88, BOBCATS 85

After the production meeting, I got the chance to shoot the second half of the NBA game between the LA Lakers and Charlotte Bobcats. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant earned his first victory since returning from a torn Achilles. Bryant had a season-high 21 points and hit the game-deciding free throws with 37 seconds left.

In a losing effort, Kemba Walker posted 24 points and eight assists for the Bobcats, whom have lost five of their last seven games.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

PANTHERS 30, JETS 20

Carolina never trailed as the Panthers won their tenth game of the season thanks to Cam Newton’s monster first half completing 80% of his passes with a 72-yard touchdown to DeAngelo Williams, who also ran for 81 yards on the day. The Jets were essentially eliminated from the playoffs with the loss.

This is just my fifth Panthers home game. My previous time here was in 2008 when Carolina beat Denver 30-10. I was here twice in 2000 (my first year traveling for CBS), once in 2001 (with FOX) and another in 2000. The Panthers are 4-1 in these contests.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM TIME LAPSE

With CBS Sports being the home of the AFC, I never thought when I started doing time lapses in 2010 that I’d complete the NFC circuit before getting all the AFC stadiums. With Carolina, the NFC is complete and all I need are four more stadiums to get at least one in all 32 NFL home venues (I also have a time lapse from Wembley Stadium in London). The now elusive four are: Cleveland, Jacksonville, New England and San Diego. I haven’t been to Jacksonville or Cleveland since 2008; New England since 2009 and San Diego since 2007. There’s a chance that I might be able to get New England or San Diego in Week 17; but nothing for Cleveland or Jacksonville. I set up two SLR cameras (Canon 40D with Sigma 10-20mm lens at the high sideline & Canon 20d with Canon 17-40mm L lens with the tight end zone) and two GoPro cameras (GoPro Hero 2 at wide end zone and GoPro Hero 3 in the corner).

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL MY TIME LAPSES

UP NEXT: Indianapolis at Kansas City

In what could very well be a preview of a wild card weekend playoff game, the Chiefs host the Colts. I love KC, but it seems every time I’m here it’s in the winter and I never get to see the city that boasts the second most fountains in the world behind Rome. I snagged two time lapses at Arrowhead Stadium last year and plan on getting a few more from different vantage points. Also, I’m planning on driving to Independence, Missouri to get shots of Harry Truman’s grave to add to that collection. I currently have 14 shots of Presidential graves.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Hoops/NFL Double Dip – Mizzou & the Nati

2013-12-13T16:35:00.000-08:00

Hoops/NFL Double Dip – Mizzou & the Nati

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

December 5-8, 2013

For me, a tradition like no other is the college basketball/NFL double dip weekend the first weekend of December. This is my third straight year (fourth overall) doing the CBS opening tip game and then doing a football game the next day. My previous three opening tip/NFL double dips started out at Kentucky; and the last two both ended in Miami. Here’s a look at my four such weekends and how the teams fared.

YEAR	HOOPS GAME	NFL GAME
2013	MISSOURI 80, UCLA 71	CINCINNATI 42, Indianapolis 28
2012	Baylor 64, KENTUCKY 55	New England 23, MIAMI 16
2011	KENTUCKY 73, North Carolina 72	MIAMI 34, Oakland 14
2009	KENTUCKY 68, North Carolina 66	Oakland 27, PITTSBURGH 24

WOW! JUST WOW!

Columbia, Missouri is in the middle of nowhere and I had to fly into St. Louis then drive two hours to get there. However, since I was in St. Louis anyway; I stopped at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. This Catholic church is breathtakingly beautiful. I’ve photographed numerous churches all over the world and easily my favorite. Pope Paul VI called this place “the outstanding cathedral of the Americas.”

Though the basilica was completed in the 20th century, the inside is designed to look like the greatest example of Byzantine style under Roman emperor Justinian in the sixth century. It has nearly 42 million individual mosaic glass pieces with a range of over 8,000 different colors that were installed by Tiffany & Company. When I was in Istanbul this past May, there are two former churches (the Hagia Sophia & Chora Church) that were clearly the inspiration for this magnificent place of worship.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY CATHEDRAL BASILICAOF ST. LOUIS GALLERY

MIZZOU 80, WEST VIRGINIA 71

I got into town a day early to ensure I was there early for my photo shoots with the teams on Friday; so I photographed the Thursday night Mizzou game against West Virginia and also get three time lapses of the game. Missouri dominated from the opening tip. The final score wasn’t indicative, as the Tigers failed to hit free throws down the stretch. And yes, the final score of both Mizzou games were the same.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY OF THIS GAME

MIZZOU ARENA TIME LAPSE

Using my spare Canon SLRs and the GoPro Hero 3, I covered three different vantage points for the time lapse. The 20D was set up with the Canon 17-40mm L lens in the corner, while the 40D was high up in the rafters behind the boards using the Sigma 10-20mm lens and the GoPro was at midcourt. Below is a combination time lapse of these three views.

PHOTO SHOOTS

For the first time since the 2013 Final Four, I lugged out the lighting gear and shot some sportraits of Missouri and UCLA. I photographed six Tigers and nine Bruins. Looking ahead to the 2014 NBA Draft; nbadraft.net has two of these student-athletes as potential picks. On that site, they have Missouri’s Jordan Clarkson going #24 overall and UCLA’s Kyle Anderson at #31

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT MY SPORTRAITSPHOTO GALLERIES

MIZZOU 80, UCLA 71

Three Missouri players posted at least 20 points as the Tigers continued their NCAA active streak of 24 straight home wins to stay undefeated by beating the previously unbeaten UCLA Bruins. This game marked my first in Columbia since the 2001 college basketball season when I did two games at Mizzou within a month. Back then, the Tigers played at the Hearnes Center, before the Mizzou Arena was built three years later.

FAUROT FIELD AT MEMORIAL STADIUM

The Missouri football team’s stadium is under renovation, but I still managed to sneak in and got some shots of the empty stadium. It’s a horseshoe-shaped stadium with seating in the opening end with a grass berm in the curved end that has a giant block “M” that’s made out of pained white stones.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY STADIUMS & ARENAPHOTO GALLERIES

BENGALS 42, COLTS 28

The Ginger Gunslinger, Andy Dalton, completed 69% of his passes for 275 yards with three touchdown strikes and another on the ground to lead the Bengals to their ninth win of the season. Cincinnati jumped out to a 21-0 lead with ten minutes to go in the second half before Colts QB Andrew Luck threw the first of his career-tying four touchdown passes; but it wasn’t enough for Indianapolis.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY OF THIS GAME

FIRST FOR EVERYTHING

Since the game was in Cincy, I knew I could get out Sunday night and not waste an entire day of travel since I’ve been away from home since Wednesday night. I rushed to the airport only to find out that my flight was delayed, but would still get me home on time. However, that all changed when the incompetent ground crew apparently forgot that it was cold outside and wasn’t ready for us when the plane needed to be de-iced. It meant that with the extra hour on the tarmac that I missed my flight from Salt Lake City home to San Jose. Strangely enough, I’ve never had to stay overnight because of a plane issue in my more than 1.2 million miles on Delta/Northwest, or any airline for that matter. Once, it would've happened when I was living in Grand Rapids, but I just drove home. To add salt to the wound, I could see my actual plane leaving the gate when I arrived – it was in the opposite terminal. To cut the wound even deeper, Delta put me on a 3:00pm flight home on Monday. Luckily, I did manage to get them to change it to a morning flight, but to Oakland. Ugh.

UP NEXT: NY Jets at Carolina

Much like the Titans home game in Week Four, I’m beyond stoked to do this game. I had it circled when the schedule came out for a multitude of reasons. 1). I get to do my 28th out of 32 NFL home venue time lapses, 2). Photograph Cam Newton in an NFL uniform (I do so at the 2010 Iron Bowl when he was at Auburn), and 3). I will drive to Columbia, South Carolina Saturday after the production meeting to photograph my 41st U.S. state capitol building.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Star Wars Hits Silicon Valley

2013-12-10T09:47:00.002-08:00

Star Wars Hits Silicon Valley

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

At The Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose, the final stop in the worldwide tour of Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit continues until February 23, 2014. Since The Tech is less than a half mile walk from my apartment and that I like most loved the films; I had to go see everything.

Though I loved all the props and costumes; I left wanting more. It made me yearn for an official Star Wars museum with even more stuff or the ultimate museum of all things related to Industrial Light & Magic. If this were ever to be made, it would be epic and I’d imagine be one of the most popular museums in the world.

One of my favorite highlights was the inside of Darth Vader’s helmet. However, a disappointing thing was there wasn’t a prop of the Death Star and all the costumes were placed on generic mannequins inside of wax replicas of the actors. That said, it was pretty fantastic for my inner geek. I went on a Monday when it wasn’t packed; so all the photos look like I was the only person in the museum.

If you cannot make it to San Jose to see the exhibit, then check out my extensive photo gallery of everything BY CLICKING HERE.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the items inside Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination at The Tech Museum in San Jose.

Costumes

Jawa, Tusken Raider & Tusken Woman, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Episode III), Anakin Skywalker (Episode I & III), Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Mace Windu, Leia Organa, R2-D2, C-3PO, Snowtrooper, Wampa, Padme, Salporin and Tarfful.

Models

Sebulba’s podracer, Tantive IV, Y-Wing, Naboo starship, Millennium Falcon, the Devastator, TIE Fighter, General Grievous’s fighter, Trade Federation Crusier: Invisible Hand, AAT, Droideka, Imperial probe droid, Battle droid, AT-TE, AT-AT, AT-ST and X-wing.

Maquettes (very small models)

General Grievous, Luke Skywalker riding a tauntaun, clone trooper

Props

Luke’s landspeeder, thermal detonator, Jedi training remote, prosthetic hand from Anakin & Luke Skywalker, Lobot’s headgear, FX-7 & 2-1B medical droids, interrogator droid, Rebel Alliance macrobinoculars & sensor pack, Chewbacca’s bowcaster, Tarfful’s rifle, Alderaan blaster, various blasters (Boba Fett, Wookie, Alderaan, Rebel, Battle Droid) and various lightsabers (Darth Maul, Chancellor Palpatine, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Shaak Ti).

Puppets

“Naked: C-3PO (Episode I) and Yoda

Other features

There’s a reproduction of the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit and for an additional $5, you can view a four-minute video based on real-world space hosted by Anthony Daniels (3-CPO) and R2-D2. For me, it wasn’t worth it as I thought it was going to be more like Star Tours ride at Disney.

Within the exhibit are hands-on things based on Star Wars tech that is now part of our modern world. Good stuff for the kids, but wasn’t that interesting to the photographer in me. Also, it DOES NOT include admission to the actual Tech Museum.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Johnson Space Center & Pats-Texans Game

2013-12-02T12:22:00.001-08:00

Johnson Space Center & Pats-Texans

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

Nov 30-Dec 1, 2013

As much as Baltimore as become the bane of my photographic existence, Houston is right behind the Charm City. This trip for the Patriots-Texans game marks my 15th NFL game in Houston (that doesn’t include the week I was here for my first Final Four in 2011). In all these trips, I never hoofed it to Johnson Space Center, which is an hour drive from the airport. With my flight landing at 8:30 AM, I decided to go this time.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY JOHNSON SPACE CENTER PHOTO GALLERY

MISSION CONTROL

It’s 87 steps from the ground up to Historic Mission Control. From the beginnings of the space program into the early 1990s, this is where all space missions were controlled from the ground. In the 1990s, Mission Control moved a level below (sadly, the tour didn’t go there since there are active missions on the International Space Station).

After it was decommissioned, NASA restored Historic Mission Control to look like it did during the moon landing. Even the chairs are authentic in the view room, complete with ashtrays. This is where the historic, “Houston, we have a problem” line was relayed to from space.

SATURN V & ROCKET PARK

Covering more than a football field, the Saturn V was used from 1967-73 for all the Apollo missions. The USA launched 13 Saturn V rockets. It remains the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket launched.

Outside are two rockets: 1). the Little Joe II launch vehicle that was used in high-altitude abort testing for the Apollo missions from 1964-66; and 2). The Mercury-Redstone that sent the first two American astronauts into space in 1961. There are also some boost engines outside of the Saturn V complex.

SPACE SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE

Outside of the main entrance is the Space Shuttle Independence, which was originally named Explorer and was on display at Kennedy Space Center when I was there in 2010. It was renamed Independence on October 5 of this year. Eventually, the Boeing 747 Space Carrier Aircraft that carried the shuttles from Texas to Florida for launches will be part of an exhibit and have Independence atop it. For now, it’s fenced off.

STAR TREK GALILEO SHUTTLECRAFT PROP

In June of this year, the JSC put on permanent display the shuttlecraft Galileo full-sized prop for the Star Trek Original Series.

In 2010, my wife surprised me for my birthday when we were living in Tampa by taking me to the Kennedy Space Center, which is about an hour away from Orlando. KSC was a far better experience than JSC. Seeing the actual Mission Control Center for all the moon landings was awesome, but I felt there was a lot lacking at JSC.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY KENNEDY SPACE CENTER PHOTO GALLERY

I was more than a bit miffed that there were three soft of different tram tours that should’ve been combined into one. The tours are essentially to buildings that are next to each other, but because the JSC wants to sell stupid photos of people in front of a green screen they are separated. This separation means that at least an extra hour of waiting for the tram is needed for each tour. On top of that, the same audio is played for most of each tour and all three end at the Rocket Park, which means you need to ride another tram back ten additional minutes to the Visitors Center to wait for another tram tour. It should be one tour instead of three. Throughout the tours, NASA claimed how it conserves time and gas in space flight; however, when it comes to the tram tours they apparently like to waste gas for the tram and the time of the visitors. Parking is $6 and adult general admission is $28.

PATRIOTS 34, TEXANS 31

Houston dropped its tenth straight game (after starting the year 2-0) and New England won its second straight after trailing by double-digit points as Tom Brady tossed for over 300 yards for the 57th time in his Hall of Fame career (good for fifth most ever). His favorite target, tight end Rob Gronkowski posted his 12th career 100+ receiving yard game, as well as an outstanding diving touchdown grab.

In a losing effort, Texans WR Andre Johnson became the second fastest player in NFL history to top 900 career catches. He finished with 121 yards – his 49th career game with over 100 (sixth most ever).

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PHOTO GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

UP NEXT – hoops/NFL double dip

I get my first college basketball game of the 2013-14 season Saturday when UCLA goes to Missouri, then Sunday I’ll be in the Nati for the Colts-Bengals game.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Four games - 2 in Baltimore; 2 in Florida

2013-11-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

Weeks 10-12: 2 games in Baltimore; 2 games in Florida

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

November 9-24, 2013

I've been slammed with work and games the past three weeks and haven’t had a chance to write up recaps for the Weeks ten through twelve. In these three weeks, I've covered four games and most importantly added a brand-new venue to my NFL time lapse collection.

Between two games in Baltimore, I did two games in Florida – one in Tampa and the other in Miami. First, I shot the Ravens’ overtime win over Cincinnati on November 10. The next day, I went back to my hometown for my first NFL game at Raymond James Stadium since 2004 when I photographed the Buccaneers’ first win of the season (over Miami). I then headed to Miami for the Dolphins’ win over San Diego. And finally, I headed back to Baltimore for another Ravens win this past Sunday. The home team won all four games.

BALTIMORE

With the addition of these two games, I've now done 19 games at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore (17 NFL and 2 college football), by far the most of any venue while I've worked for CBS. Thus, Charm City is one of my most photographed cities.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY IMMENSE CHARM CITY PHOTO GALLERIES

B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM

This hidden gem on the outskirts of downtown Baltimore has the world’s most significant collection of railroad treasures and the largest collection of 19th-century locomotives. Its houses in the old Mount Clare Station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Admission is $16 and if you love trains; it’s well worth it.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM PHOTO GALLERY

RAVENS 20, BENGALS 17 (OVERTIME)

The Ravens led 17-0 at halftime, but thanks to a 51-yard Andy Dalton to A.J. Green prayer as time expired forced overtime. In the extra stanza, Baltimore won it with a 46-yard field goal by Justin Tuck. For Green, it was his fifth straight game with 100+ receiving yards, which is a Cincinnati franchise record.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

TAMPA

For me, my hometown is Cloud City. The clouds are insane, which makes photos just simple awesome.

UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA
I focused on getting new shots of the minarets of the University of Tampa this time.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY TAMPA PHOTO GALLERIES

BUCCANEERS 22, DOLPHINS 19

The previously 0-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally won thanks its defense that held the Miami Dolphins to a franchise record two rushing yards. Rookie QB Mike Glennon tossed a one-yard touchdown to offensive lineman Donald Penn in the win. The Dolphins haven’t won in Tampa since 1988.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM TIME LAPSE

Now, I need just five home stadiums to have time lapses in every NFL stadium since adding three of Raymond James Stadium. I set up my Canon 40D with the Sigma 10-22mm lens in the end zone behind the pirate ship, the 20D with Tamron 18-270mm in the corner and the GoPro Hero 3 in the high sideline. The five home teams I need are: Carolina, Cleveland, Jacksonville, New England and San Diego

SportsTimeLapses.com

I purchased a new website recently so you can log onto SportsTimeLapses.com to go directly to my YouTube page.

MIAMI

I haven’t had a chance to shoot Miami since 2010 because my last two times in South Florida have been on the tail end of a double dip; so I actually flew into Miami a day early to get some new shots. However, the weather was crappy on Friday. I did get a chance to shoot the new Marlins baseball stadium and a villa.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY MIAMI PHOTO GALLERIES

MARLINS PARK

I shot a few construction photos of this place when I was in Miami for the Super Bowl back in 2010. It was $10 for tour of MLB’s newest venue. I actually got a private tour since no one else was there when I took the tour. I’ve photographed either the interior or exterior of 27 of the 30 MLB teams (I also have two former stadiums – Tigers Stadium in Detroit and Olympic Stadium in Montreal). I need to get the Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY MLB STADIUMS PHOTO GALLERIES

VILLA VIZCAYA

This is the former estate of businessman James Deering. Vizcaya was built from 1914-23 and originally was on 180 acres (now consists of 43). It's designed in the Mediterranean Revival Style. Vizcaya is sometimes called the Hearst Castle of the East. There's an awesome stone barge on Biscayne Bay outside the mansion and an immense gardens collection. Admission is $18.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY VIZCAYA PHOTO GALLERY

DOLPHINS 20, CHARGERS 16

San Diego hasn't won in Miami since the epic 1982 two overtime playoff win over the Dolphins and couldn't get it done this week. In the loss, Ryan Mathews ran for 127 yards.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

TWO MORE PRESIDENTIAL GRAVES

I flew into DC for the Ravens game so I could go to Arlington National Cemetery to add William Taft and the National Cathedral to add Woodrow Wilson to my presidential final burial places gallery. I know have 14 of the 38 possible grave sites.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PRESIDENTIAL GRAVE SITES PHOTO GALLERIES

RAVENS 19, JETS 3

Baltimore receiver/returner Jacoby Jones tallied 249 all-purpose yards, including a 66-yard TD catch as the Ravens scored the game’s final 19 points. The Ravens have won all three games I've covered this season. They are 2-6 in the other eight games.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY FROM THIS GAME

-- AndysPictures.com --

Buffaloed Again

2013-11-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

Buffaloed Again

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

November 2-3, 2013

Two months after starting the 2013 NFL regular season in scenic upstate New York, I’m back in Buffalo for the Week Nine matchup against the Bills and the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. When I was here right weeks ago, I shot a bunch of new things that you CAN READ ABOUT BY CLICKING HERE.

There was some stuff I missed out on. However, much like the previous Saturday I was in Buffalo, it was rainy and crappy making my photographic journey a bit gloomy.

Check out my expanded Buffalo galleries BY CLICKING HERE.

CITY HALL OBSERVATION DECK

After checking into the hotel, I walked the block and a half to the Buffalo City Hall to go to the 28th floor observation deck. It’s free and open whenever the building is open. Previous, it was only Monday through Friday, but the city added Saturday hours this past summer. I hope next time I’m in Buffalo, the weather is good because this is a great spot.

ST. ADALBERT’S BASILICA

This 1891 Polish Cathedral style church was designated America’s first Basilica in 1907. However, the Vatican decided to merge two parishes so it’s only open on special occasions. I was lucky enough to be there when one of someone was dropping off stuff for one of the rare masses and he let me take a few shots of the interior.

St. Adalbert’s Basilica is a brick exterior church with 36 stained-glass windows. The church’s namesake, Adalbert of Prague, is the patron saint of Bohemia, Poland, Hungary and Prussia.

MCKINLEY MARKER

I searched for the exact place where President McKinley was assassinated back in 1901, but couldn’t find it last time. After some research online, I found that there’s a small marker in the middle of the road marking the spot where the Temple of Music once stood (that’s where he was shot). I drove by it numerous times before finally finding it. If you’re ever in Buffalo and looking for it, the McKinley historical marker is located in front of 30 Fordham Drive.

I AM NUMBER ONE

The Chiefs has the worst record in the league last year and were rewarded with the first selection in the 2013 NFL draft. They selected Central Michigan offensive tackle Eric Fisher. After snapping a few pics of him on Sunday, I added Fisher to my #1 Overall NFL Draft Picks collection. I now have 21 former overall #1 picks, including the last 13. This game featured three former #1 overall selections. In addition to Fisher, there were the top picks in 2005 (Alex Smith) and 2006 (Mario Williams). CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY GALLERY OF #1 OVERALL NFL PICKS.

CHIEFS 23, BILLS 13

Kansas City’s defense had two returns for touchdowns, including Sean Smith’s 100-yard interception for a score, to beat Buffalo 23-13 to go to 9-0 on the season. The Chiefs outscored the Bills 20-3 in the second half despite allowing 470 total yards. It was Kansas City’s first win in Buffalo since 1986, which was the fourth NFL start of eventual Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly who threw three interceptions

For the Bills, undrafted rookie QB Jeff Tuel became the third different Bills starter this season and looked good early with a 59-yard touchdown strike to Maquise Goodwin, but was picked off twice. Buffalo RB C.J. Spiller had 116 rushing yards on 12 carries.

TIME LAPSE: HIGH SIDELINE & HIGH END ZONE

I got two really good time lapses last time I was here and decided to go with a high sideline view this time. In addition, I returned to the high end zone; but with the Hero 2 (because the battery is so much better). Hopefully, I won’t be back in Buffalo in 2013. The stadium is getting a $130-million renovation before the start of the 2014 season; so it’ll look a little different next year (which is beyond a good thing since Ralph Wilson Stadium looks more like a high school venue than an NFL one). You can read all about the renovation BY CLICKING HERE.

UP NEXT: Cincinnati at Baltimore

It’s back to Baltimore (again) for the Bengals-Ravens marking my fourth game covering these two division rivals. I’ve photographed the Charm City so many times that I truly hate getting a game here. Sadly, I’ve already been assigned another game in Baltimore in two weeks (vs. NY Jets).

FALL BACK

I hate going back to Standard Time. Yes, I get an “extra” hour of sleep before the Bills game; but the hassle over the next six months is just not worth it. Studies show that a majority of Americans hate it too and yet other studies show that it doesn’t save electricity (the main reason it was implemented after World War I). I’m just glad I don’t live in the most northeastern parts of the USA, where the sunset will now be at 4:26pm (and as early as 4:02pm by early December). There’s no reason to have the sunset before 5pm.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s a collection of my top shots from Buffalo….

-- AndysPictures.com --

Back to the Bayou

2013-10-31T16:36:00.002-07:00

Back to the Bayou

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

October 26-27, 2013

CBS can at most get two Saints home games a season and this makes five straight seasons covering a game in New Orleans (that’s not counting the week I was here for the 2012 Final Four, the 2010 NCAA Tournament and ArenaBowl XXII). Needless to say, I’ve photographed a lot of this city. CLICK HERE AND YOU CAN VIEW MY VAST NEW ORLEANS PHOTO GALLERIES.

When I was here last year (CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT), I didn’t take a single shot of New Orleans as I photographed a Tulane football game and then drove to snap shots of the Mississippi capitol in Jackson.

This year, I got to shoot the Tulane game on Saturday once again, but did get some photos of the Crescent City, in fact I walked nearly 20 miles in the two days. Everything is pretty close to the French Quarter, so I just footed it from the hotel.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG PARK

There’s a great selection of sculptures in this park that make it very photographic. The one of the park’s namesake is, in my opinion, the weakest of the statues. Across the Mississippi River in Algiers, there’s a fantastic statue of Armstrong (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). There are two sculptures that are by far my favorites in the park: Big Chief Tootie and Buddy Bolden.

Allison Montana, aka Tootie, was the chief of chiefs for the Mardi Gras Indians. The Big Chief changed the culture from violence to pageantry.

Bolden, was the first king of jazz. He is credited as the first jazz musician and band leader. This sculpture reminds me of my sports sequence photos, where I combined multiple shots into a single image. Below the image of the sculpture is one of Saints QB Drew Brees in this sample.

CONGO SQUARE PARK

Located inside Armstrong Park, this small swath of land is where the 18th century French and Spanish colonial slaves gathered on Sundays and were allowed to have a day off from “work.” This one afternoon a week, they were allowed to be Africans and sang, danced and played their tribal music.

Unlike the British settlers to the east, the French & Spanish (also the Creole) didn’t force the slaves to assimilate to Christianity and allowed them to keep their culture since they couldn’t keep their freedom. Many musical scholars believe that these cultural influences developed into today’s Mardi Gras festival and is the root for Jazz as well as R&B music.

FOUNDER OF NEW ORLEANS

I almost by accident stumbled up a statue of Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, who founded New Orleans on May 7, 1718. He was also the father of Biloxi, MS and Mobile, AL. Bienville made New Orleans the capital of the Louisiana colony, which he was the governor for 30 years.

TOTAL DOMINATION

On the four corners of many streetlight poles, are four small plaques stating the years that a certain power controlled New Orleans: The French (1718-69), the Spanish (1769-1803), the American (1803-61 and 1865 to date; and the Confederate (1861-65). Many of the Confederate plaques have been destroyed. The one pictured below is the only one I found on Rampart Street for three blocks.

MONUMENT TO THE IMMIGRANT

Dedicated in 1995, the New Orleans' Italian-American community unveiled this double-sided sculpture. On one side, Miss Liberty faces the Mississippi River, while an immigrant family faces the French Quarter.

ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL

The skyline is just a bunch of boring rectangle hotels, but in the heart of the French Quarter towering over the two-story buildings is St. Louis Cathedral, a Spanish Colonial Renaissance minor basilica built was completed in 1794. Sadly, the inside of the church is only open for mass & confession and briefly after a wedding. In all my travels here, I’ve only been inside once and it was right after a wedding. I literally got one picture before I was pushed out (that was back in 2009).

Outside the church is Jackson Square where the traditional sculpture of Andrew Jackson on horseback (exactly the same as you’ll see in Jacksonville, Nashville and many other cities in the South.

JOAN OF ARC

Around the corner from Jackson Square is a golden statue of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. She led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War that paved the way for Charles VII being crowned, then eventually was burnt at the stake when she was 19.

TULANE 14, TULSA 7

The Green Wave (6-2) beat the defending Conference USA champions 14-7 to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2002. Tulane quarterback Devin Powel tossed two scores and the Green Wave defense forced four turnovers. Tulsa had won its previous eight matchups against Tulane before this game.

When I shot the Tulane-Ole Miss game last year, I thought the Superdome looked empty though 28,000 fans were in attendance (the building holds 72,000). This time, it was much worse though they announced 22,000. Having games at the Superdome is no home-field advantage when it’s so cavernous. Luckily for the Green Wave, the team moves into its new on-campus stadium next year – the 30,000-seat Benson Field at Yulman Stadium.

SAINTS 35, BILLS 17

The Saints improved to 6-1 on the year thanks to the eighth career game with five passing touchdowns by Drew Brees, who also tossed his 72nd career 300-yard passing game (second in league history to Peyton Manning’s 78). Brees completed 76% of his passes for 332 yards with the five scores and no turnovers.

This was my second Bills-Saints game. The first was in 2005 with the Saints winning 19-7 and was played in San Antonio due to the damage in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. I did go out and got some Alamo photos; but at the time wasn’t into photography (though I did have a DSLR for Rampage games) so I don’t have any shots of the Alamodome. That game was the Saints’ lone “home” win that year after splitting home games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge.

THE TIME LAPSES

Previously, I’ve shot three time lapses of Saints games and you can click for those: HIGH SIDELINE, HIGH CORNER, END ZONE. I also did multiple ones at the 2012 Final Four. This time I did two from a different corner of the dome – one a wide shot and the other a close up. With the smaller crowd, I didn’t do a Tulane time lapse. Next time, when the Green Wave is in its new stadium I’ll be doing one.

UP NEXT: Kansas City at Buffalo

I get to go back to Buffalo next week to see the Bills that lost this week face off against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. Last year, the Chiefs were the worst team in the league and this year are the lone undefeated team. There’s a few things I didn’t get to shoot in Buffalo in Week One that I’m going to check off my list. I also get a chance to photograph the 2013 #1 overall draft pick – Eric Fisher from Central Michigan (Fire Up Chips!).

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s a collection of my top shots from this weekend.

-- AndysPictures.com –

New York State of Mine

2013-10-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK STATE OF MINE

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

October 18-20, 2013

With the combination of Giants and Jets games, I’ve covered 17 NFL games in NYC (aka East Rutherford, New Jersey). The 17 games would, if the two NY teams were combined, it would make the Giants/Jets the most by any team (Baltimore is the actual most with 15). There’s some things I’ve always meant to go and shoot, but just haven’t in the past. Also, I’ve slowly started to replace old photos from the summer of 2006 (before I knew how to use my camera). That summer, I was in NYC for a few days because my wife, Bethany, was here for a work conference, and shot a lot (just not very well).

This time, I walked all over the city and drove around to get lots of shots. On Friday alone, I walked 14.99 miles (31K steps) and climbed 66 floors. All told in the three days, I walked 65K steps, 30.7 miles and climbed 108 floors. My weekly goal is 70K, so nearly getting that in three days is pretty good. Additionally, I purchased the unlimited ride pass for the subway. They only offer an unlimited ticket for seven days; but it’s still well worth the $31 though I used for just two days (my fares would’ve been over $40 if I purchased them separately.

TWO MORE PRESIDENTIAL GRAVES

After landing at JFK, I headed to Oyster Bay (about 40 minutes away) to snap a shot of Theodore Roosevelt’s final resting place at Youngs Memorial Cemetery. I now have shot all four grave sites of the presidents on Mount Rushmore, and hopefully next year will get a chance to shoot it.

Once I got into the City, I headed up near Harlem and added Ulysses S. Grant’s grave. That now makes 12 presidential graves that I’ve photographed. You can very this dozen BY CLICKING HERE. The Grant tomb took a dozen years to build and stands as 150-feet high making it the largest mausoleum in North America. This makes 12 out of the possible 37 presidential grave sites (almost a third).

FLUSHING MEADOWS

The US Open tennis tournament is held here, but there are two main remnants from the 1964-65 World’s Fair that highlight Flushing Meadows-Corona Park: the 140-foot stainless steel model of the world with three rings representing the three man-made satellites launched in the 1950s named the Unisphere; and the New York State Pavilion, which is three observation towers.

In addition to the World’s Fair in the 1960s, the 1939-40 one was also held here. Though I did get to walk where the water runs to get underneath shots of the sphere. The 1997 original Men in Black film used the towers as spaceships with one of them being shot down in front of the Unisphere.

NYC PUBLIC LIBRARY

With about 53 million items this is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) and third in the world.

It’s an amazing building and free to enter unlike its inception when they charged admission and didn’t allow physical access to any literary items. Check out more of my photos of this place by CLICKING HERE.

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

I stopped briefly at the Franklin Street subway station to snap a shot of the firehouse used in the movie Ghostbusters. There’s no plaque or anything noting that the flick was filmed here; but with so many things shot in NYC it’s not surprising at all.

DAY AT THE MUSEUM

I tried to get American Museum of Natural History earlier, but arrived an hour before it closed. There’s no entrance fee the final hour; so it saved me $22 and I went snap crazy in that last 60 minutes. This place is HUGE covering four floors. I’m going to have to come again in the future (once again an hour before closing).

The Museum was founded in 1869 by a group of wealthy New Yorkers including JP Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt’s father.

ROSE CENTER & HAYDEN PLANETARIUM

The photographic highlight at the American Museum of Natural History is the six-story tall glass cube housing an 87-foot sphere representing the Sun and then models of the other planets in our solar system at their respective scale sizes.

When walking by the Museum, there’s a great view of the cube from the western side on 81st street.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

On my way to the Grant burial site, I decided to get an exterior of the Low Memorial Library building at Columbia University. It’s one subway stop away from the U.S. Grant burial site. Built in 1895 and it still has the largest freestanding granite dome in the U.S.

9/11 MEMORIAL

I photographed this last August, but with the Freedom Tower (now known as One World Trade Center) exterior essentially complete I decided to return. Sadly, the museum is still under construction and is supposed to open next year (it looked like no work has been done inside since I was here last October). The museum was supposed to open on 9/11/2012 – the exterior was done a year ago and only the interior needs to be completed.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum opened a decade to the day of the terrorist attacks. In just three months, over a million had visited and it has since become one of the most visited sites in NYC. Where the Twin Towers once stood are two pools with the largest man-made waterfalls in the U.S. cascading down 30 feet. Each pool is the exact footprint of the original towers (one acre each) and the sound of the water falling is supposed to drown out the sounds of the bustling city.

There are 2,983 names of the victims that lost their lives in the four plane attacks that day as well as the six that died in the 1993 WTC bombing. It took five and a half years to build the memorial with a cost of $500 million.

With construction all around the memorial, they restrict access and you need a ticket. I got mine online to ensure my 11am time. Once the construction of all the other buildings in the Ground Zero vicinity is completed, then the memorial park will be open from all sides at all times.

The Freedom Tower (1 WTC) will have an observation deck on the 100th floor when it’s completed in 2015, which will be the highest public observation deck in New York (I’m hoping for non-reflective glass, but you and I both know that isn’t going to happen). The exterior of the tallest tower in the Western Hemisphere (at 1,776-foot tall) and currently fourth in the world (the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest at 2,717-foot tall).

IRISH HUNGER MEMORIAL

Near Ground Zero this was designed to honor the 1.5 million Irish that perished from 1845-52 famine. There’s a famine-era cottage as well as stones, soil and native Ireland vegetation in the 25-foot high memorial that takes up nearly half an acre.

TRINITY CHURCH

This is the third church named Trinity at this location. The first was built in 1698 and the current one was completed in 1846. Upon its completion, the third Trinity had the highest point in NYC (at 281-foot high) until the New York World Building (349) was built in 1890. Directly across the street from the church is the American Stock Exchange.

CITY HALL

Built in 1811, the New York City Hall is the oldest city hall building in the United States. To see my collection of City Hall buildings from across the USA, please CLICKHERE.

THESE ARE THEIR STORIES

The New York State Supreme Court building, a granite-faced hexagonal structure, was built from 1913-27 with a delay because of World War I. It’s one of the primary backdrops for the long-running TV series Law & Order.

EMPTY SKY MEMORIAL

It’s been a few years since I shot from Liberty State Park and in 2011, a 9/11 Memorial dedicated to the 746 New Jersey residents that lost their lives that day back in 2001. Named the Empty Sky Memorial, from a Bruce Springsteen song, it has twin walls, transecting a "gently sloped mound anchored by a granite path that is directed toward Ground Zero."

JETS 30, PATRIOTS 27 (OVERTIME)

The Jets overcame a 21-10 halftime deficit to beat the Patriots 30-27 in overtime. New York rookie quarterback Geno Smith threw a touchdown and in another. His counterpart on the other sideline, Tom Brady, completed just 48% of his passes and didn’t throw a touchdown for the second time in his last three games. Both quarterbacks tossed interceptions returned for touchdowns.

In the extra frame, New York kicker Nick Folk missed a 56-yard field goal, but one of the New England blockers illegally pushed his own player resulting in a 15-yard penalty and new life for the Jets. Four plays later, Folk nailed a 42-yarder for the win. This was my second Pats-Jets game covered and New York has won both (the previous in 2009).

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski made his season debut after four surgeries in the previous ten months. He tied a career high with eight receptions for 114 yards, his tenth career 100+ yard game.

THE TIME LAPSE

I set up my Canon 40D in the high right corner of the stadium. One photo was taken every 45 seconds.

UP NEXT: Buffalo at New Orleans

Last year when I was in Nawlins, I shot a Tulane game and then did the Saints game. This year, I’ll be doing the same. I’ve shot the Bayou numerous times and probably won’t be doing very much shooting other than the games.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s a selection of my top shots from NYC this weekend. For more of my New York City photos, please CLICK HERE.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Scenic in Seattle

2013-10-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

SCENIC IN SEATTLE

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

October 11-14, 2013

With Seattle essentially being a home game for me (same time zone, short two-hour flight), I flew up to the Pacific Northwest Friday morning and stayed until Monday afternoon to get a lot of shots. I was in Seattle in Week 17 of 2001 for the Seahawks’ last game in the AFC before moving to the NFC in 2002. Since then, this is just my third trip to Seattle in the last 12 seasons (in December 2008 and November 2011). This is the earliest in the football season I’ve been to the Pacific Northwest. You can read my blog from the last time I was here BY CLICKING HERE. Also, don’t forget to check out my newly refreshed Seattle galleries BY CLICKING HERE.

Clouds are a photographer’s dream if they are fluffy and there’s still blue in the sky (so the sky doesn’t look just boring and blank). Seattle is seemingly always cloudy when I come here since it’s in the fall/early winter. Sadly, it’s mostly cloudy when I need it to be partly cloudy. It was either foggy or clear most of the time. Aside from a few hours on Saturday afternoon and during the game on Sunday, perfect cloud coverage was very elusive.

In my last Seattle trip, I focused on skyline shots and got a few oddities/landmarks like the Fremont Troll, the first Starbucks and Bruce Lee’s gravesite. I’m always going to go for the skyline shots since I own SkylineShots.com and went to the observation deck/levels of three different structures: the Space Needle, Smith Tower and Columbia Center (tallest building in Seattle). Additionally, I went to various points in the city to view the skyline like: Queen Anne’s Hill, Kobe Terrace, Gas Works Park, Hamilton Viewpoint Park, Belvedere Viewpoint and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. As for new landmarks and oddities, I snapped shots of the grave and a statue of Jimi Hendrix; the Chinatown Gate; the EMP Museum, the Chihuly Glass exhibit and toured the Mariners’ baseball stadium.

JIMI HENDRIX GRAVE & STATUE

After landing, I drove 15 minutes from the airport to Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton to visit the grave of rock legend Jimi Hendrix.

In the Capitol Hill district of downtown Seattle, next to Blick Art Materials, is a statue of Hendrix on his knees playing the guitar.

VIEW FROM THE SPACE NEEDLE

In 2008, I went to the observation level of the Space Needle during the day. This time, I went right before sunset to get some “magic hour” views of Seattle from 605 feet above.

When it was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the Space Needle was at the time the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. The sky was nearly clear and they let you bring up a tripod. However, the railings are very high and I ended up brace the tripod up against it.

VIEW FROM COLUMBIA CENTER

The Sky View Observatory is 73 floors above the ground (902 feet high). Overall, the Columbia Center building is 76 floors high (932 feet) and was finished in 1985. It’s $12.50 to go to the Sky View, but the views are stunning and once you purchase a ticket its good until closing.

I went up around 3 PM on Saturday after checking in at the TV trucks and then came back right before closing at 8 PM to get some night shots. Sadly, the windows aren’t made of non-reflective glass. This was very troublesome at night because the green neon EXIT signs are glaring. Luckily, there’s a few spots that I found without the green. The Columbia Center is the 22nd tallest building in the United States and ranks 113th in the world.

VIEW FROM SMITH TOWER

Built in 1914, the Smith Tower was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River (489-foot/38-story) until the Space Needle was built almost 50 years later. It’s $7.50 to go to the observation deck on the 35th floor.

CHIHULY GLASS EXHIBIT

New since I was here last is the Chihuly Garden & Glass permanent exhibit right by the Space Needle. I love me some Chihuly glass since it’s so colorful, unique and photogenic.

You can check out my full galleries of times I’ve shot Chihuly exhibits: 2008 San Francisco, 2009 Phoenix and 2013 Seattle.

SEATTLE GREAT WHEEL

This wasn’t here the last time I was in Seattle as it was completed in June of 2012. The 175-foot Ferris wheel not even close to a world record, which is currently held by the Singapore Flyer (541 foot), which was built in 2008. I didn’t go up because the gondolas are completely covered and am not sure I can get any usable shots shooting through the glass.

$13 is a lot of money for something that just goes around in a circle. The view doesn’t seem to be stellar for that steep price. It’s no London Eye (443 foot) that provides amazing panoramic views. Anyway, I did create a gallery with shots of the Great Wheel that you can CLICK HERE to view.

EMP MUSEUM

In this Frank Gehry-designed structure is a museum dedicated to science fiction and music. It was created in 200 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is also the owner of the Seahawks. Originally, it was called the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame.

The music side has a large exhibit of Seattle garage band Nirvana as well as a Jimi Hendrix London exhibit. Inside is the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame and lots of movie & TV props, including Captain Kirk’s chair from the original Star Trek, the Cowardly Lion costume from the Wizard of Oz, the head of the Terminator and other memorabilia.

POST ALLEY GUM WALL

Disgusting and amazing. The photos don’t give it justice. It is a few steps from the Pike Place Market, where the first Starbucks is located. CLICK HERE to view more shots. The photos don’t give you the true scale of how thick this wall of gum is.

SAFECO FIELD TOUR

I’ve photographed the Mariners’ stadium from the outside and with me coming up here early, I decided to do the Safeco Field tour to get some wide-shot interiors. I really wish these tours would just offer an option to go to the top of the stadium and get some shots instead of a nearly two hour tour.

SEATTLE 20, TENNESSEE 13

Without QB Jake Locker, the Titans just weren’t the same since the last time I covered them in Week Four. Ryan Fitzpatrick just isn’t that good. He tossed two picks and Tennessee was only in the game because of a Seattle special teams snafu on a field goal attempt that the Titans returned for a touchdown.

Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch posted his seventh career multi-touchdown game and set a career high for receiving yards and longest reception. QB Russell Wilson still hasn’t lost at home in his two-year career (won 11 straight home contests) after 257 via the air and 61 yards on the ground.

This was overall my fifth time in Seattle (third at the Seahawks’ new stadium). In those games, the Seahawks are now 4-1. The lone loss coming in 2008 when New England came-from-behind to win 24-21. I wish the Seahawks didn’t switch from the AFC to the NFC. Seattle made the move because the NFL expanded to Houston making the league 32 teams. The AFC had 17 teams because they put Houston in the AFC, so a team needed to move into the NFC. Sadly, Seattle was the obvious choice because the NFC only had two teams west of the Mississippi (San Francisco & Arizona).

STAY CLASSY SEATTLE

Actor Will Ferrell was at the Seahawks game and I snapped the shot below of him. Not only that, but when I was at the EMP Museum, there’s a sign that says, “Needs more cowbell.”

THE TIME LAPSES

Last time here, I set up a time lapse in the end zone (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). It was a very overcast weekend in November of 2011 and by the end of the game it was dark; so this time I did another time lapse in the end zone as well as ones from the two different corner shots and another from the sideline. Here's a combination look at three of the different views. All four can be seen on my YouTube page, as well as the world's largest sports time lapse collection (YouTube.com/AndySnaks).

UP NEXT: New England at NY Jets

This will be my third Patriots game this year and sadly still haven’t got one of their home games since 2009 (it’s one of the elusive six venues I haven’t done a time lapse at yet). I’m getting into NYC Friday morning and plan on getting shots of two presidential grave sites (Teddy Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant) to add to my collection as well as visit the 9/11 Memorial since the Freedom Tower is now complete.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s a collection of my top shots from Seattle.

My 40th State Capitol, the Nati & a Game

2013-10-11T09:15:00.001-07:00

My 40th State Capitol, the Nati & a Game

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

October 4-6, 2013

My game this past weekend was in Cincinnati; however, with West Virginia’s capitol being one that I haven’t photographed and a few hours away, I flew into Charleston, WV to capture my 40th state capitol.

Along the bank of the Kanawha River, the West Virginia Capitol Complex was completed from 1932. It was designed by Cass Gilbert, who reused the interior of the WV capitol’s East Wing in his design of the U.S. Supreme Court. Gilbert also designed the Minnesota State Capitol, New York’s Woolworth Building and Cincinnati’s PNC Tower.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE SHOTS OF CHARLESTON AND THE STATE CAPITOL.

There’s just ten more capitol buildings I need to complete the Fifty Nifty United States. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE GALLERY OF THE 40. The ten remaining capitols I need are located in: Alaska (Juneau), Hawaii (Honolulu), Idaho (Boise), Iowa (Des Moines), Maine (Augusta), Montana (Helena), North Dakota (Bismarck), South Carolina (Columbia), South Dakota (Pierre) and Vermont (Montpelier). Here’s a look at the US map with the state capitols I’ve photographed in red.

After snapping #40, I had a nice scenic 200+ mile drive to right outside of Cincinnati to the little hamlet of North Bend, Ohio to photograph the grave of William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President. Harrison died just 32 days into office. Harrison was also the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, who was the 23rd president. This marks my tenth grave site photographed of a U.S. President (CLICK HERE TO SEE MY COLLECTION). Five U.S. Presidents were either born in the greater Cincinnati area or worked in the Nati: William Henry Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, Ulysses S. Grant, William Taft and Benjamin Harrison. Only the older Harrison is buried close to Cincy.

CINCINNATUS TO THE RESCUE

Cincinnati is named after the Roman dictator Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who gave up ultimate power and returned to farming. He became a model for George Washington after the Revolutionary War. It also helps that Cincy has seven hills just like Rome. Prior to becoming Cincinnati in 1790, the town was called Losantiville and also known as Porkopolis for the huge meat packing industry. There’s a mural on the side of the Brotherhood Building at 1025 Vine Street called the Homage to Cincinnatus, which was created by Richard Haas in 1983 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Kroger Company (a Cincy-based grocery store chain). This thing looks real. It’s likely the best mural I’ve ever seen.

Near the riverfront in Sawyer Point, there’s a statue of Cincinnatus. A plaque under the sculpture reads:

The legendary Roman is seen here after he defeated the Aequians and rescued the trapped Roman Army. With one hand he returns the fasces, symbol of power as appointed Dictator of Rome, his other hand hold the plow, as he resumes the life of a citizen and farmer.

MORE ROME CONNECTIONS
There's more connections to Rome for Cincinnati than just Cincinnatus. Like Rome, Cincy is built on seven hills and "The City of Seven Hills" is one of my nicknames for the Nati. So it isn't any surprise that there's a sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf. This bronze sculpture is of a she-wolf sucking twin the infants Romulus and Remus, which is the most famous image associated with the founding of Rome.

CINCINNATI MUSIC HALL

This Venetian Gothic style building was completed in 1878 and serves as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Opera. It is the third largest concert hall in the U.S. behind only the Met in NYC and the DAR Constitution Hall in D.C. Samuel Hannaford designed the Music Hall along with numerous other landmarks in the Nati, including City Hall, Cincinnati Observatory, the Cincinnatian Hotel (where CBS stays for games) and the Elsinore Arch.

CINCY CITY HALL

Designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the Cincinnati City Hall has a nine-story clock tower and was created with an optical illusion to make it seem larger than it actually is – the windows get smaller the higher the building goes. It was dedicated in 1893. Other works designed in the Richardsonian style are: the New York State Capitol in Albany and the Buffalo Insane Asylum.

ELSINORE ARCH

Constructed in 1883 for the Cincinnati Water Works and inspired by Elsinore Castle from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The Water Works wanted a structure to house numerous valves to control the flow of water at the base of the steep hill at the base of Mt. Adam’s Eden Park; and also wanted it to be a unique entrance to the park.

NEW VIEW OF THE NATI

I love the Cincy skyline. I’ve shot it from the Ohio River in Covington, KY; Devou Park, Mount Adams and last year found another great spot in Price Hill. This time, I found another spot near the Price Hill neighborhood in Mt Echo Park. Sadly, the folks over at the Duke Energy Center didn’t turn on the glowing “Cincinnati” sign the entire week.

FOUNTAIN SQUARE

Founded in 1871 and renovated in 1971 and 2005, the square’s highlight is the Tyler Davidson Fountain - also known as The Genius of Water” as well as “The Lady.” The fountain is the symbol of the city and stands 43 feet high and the main figure is nine-feet high. She pours down the symbolic longed-for rain from her outstretched arms.

MEANWHILE, AT THE HALL OF JUSTICE

DC Comics artist Al Gmuer used the art deco design of Cincy’s Union Terminal (now known at the Cincinnati Museum Center) to create the Hall of Justice for the Super Friends TV show that was on ABC from 1973-86.

LET’S PLAY BALL

The history of baseball has many ties to Cincinnati. In 1869, the first all-professional baseball team began playing and the Red Stocking, as they were called back then, won 130 straight games from 1869-70. Because the Red Stockings were so dominant, it led to the formation of the National League, the first all-professional baseball league in 1890 and became known as the Reds.

Cincinnati was also the first baseball team to have a game broadcast on the road and also host a night game. Both of which were pioneer by eventual team owner Powel Crosley Jr. He’s backstory is pretty great. It’s amazing that he’s not in Cooperstown, but will be enshrined into the National Radio Hall of Fame next month. He got Proctor & Gamble to sponsor his radio dramas and the media called them “soap operas.” Near the Cincinnati Museum Center fountain is a plague depicting the site where the 1869 Red Stockings played their games.

GREAT AMERICAN BALLPARK

On the banks of the Ohio River is the home of the Reds, Great American Ball Park.

The tour was $17 and also included admission to the Reds Hall of Fame. It was pretty informative and they even gave out a 12-inch Johnny Bench statue with the tour. I have shot all but two of the MLB stadiums (Toronto & the Chicago White Sox). You can see my gallery of MLB stadiums by CLICKING HERE.

BENGALS 13, PATRIOTS 6

Tom Brady’s streak of 52 straight games with a pass touchdown ended as the Patriots lost for the first time this season 13-6. The 52 consecutive games was the second longest in NFL history to Drew Brees, who had 53. Brady completed just one of his last ten passes, which included an interception with 16 seconds left. It was the first loss by Brady against Cincinnati.

For the Bengals, Andy Dalton completed 74% of his passes (20-of-27) for 212 yards with an interception. The only touchdown was scored on a one-yard plunge by former Pats running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis with 9:21 left in the game.

TIME LAPSE: Inside the CBS Sports Graphics Truck

It was rainy and nasty Sunday morning, so I opted to do a time lapse in the truck since I have four time lapses of Paul Brown Stadium from last year (two from two different games). Of course, Weather.com was wrong on the forecast. It claimed as of 7am Sunday morning that it was going to 100% chance of rain throughout the game. About five minutes before kickoff, the rain stopped. Damn you Weather.com. So I did another time lapse of the CBS Graphics Truck.

MORE OF CINCY
I've written other blogs about Cincinnati in the past and if you want to read more about the Nati, please click the following links. If you haven't visited my galleries of Cincinnati, please do so since this week I've completely re-done the galleries.

November 2012 blog
August 2012 blog
December 2011 blog
Cincinnati Photo Galleries

UP NEXT: Tennessee at Seattle

I’m happy to have a semi-home game (two-hour flight) this upcoming week and glad to be back in Seattle. Last time I was here, it was rainy. Well, every time I’ve been to the Pacific Northwest it’s rainy and cloudy. Fingers crossed it will be blue with awesome puffy clouds. I’m going up Friday afternoon to try and get more unique shots of Seattle. CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT MY SEATTLE GALLERIES.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s my top shots from this weekend.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Music City Madness (Week 4 - NYJ@TEN)

2013-10-02T14:52:00.004-07:00

Tennessee State Capitol from Bicentennial Mall State Park

Travel/Photo Blog: Nashville (Week 4 – NYJ@TEN)

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

September 28-29, 2013

The Music City is where my true love of photography began. I brought my first professional SLR camera in October of 2003 when I was told by the Grand Rapids Rampage, an Arena Football League team that I had just started working for at the time, that I had no budget for photography. Thus, I spent my own money and got a camera, a used Canon D30 from one of my sports photographers with my previous team – the San Diego Riptide. Though I used that camera for three years shooting every Rampage road game while being the PR director, I rarely pulled it out on the road for CBS games and I can only think of twice that I used it to shoot various cities. That changed when I decided to upgrade to the Canon 20D to get better quality shots a few months before the 2006 NFL season (I even used said 20D this week for one of my time lapse views).

Downtown Nashville at dawn

It was by pure luck that my Week One game in 2006 was Nashville or my passion for the clicking might not be as intense or I’d have a little warm spot in my heart for another city. A chance web search for Grand Rapids skyline photos in the summer of 2006 whetted my photo appetite that led to my purchase a professional tripod (which I still use today) and eventually making the Music City my first road city that I began photographing. I stumbled onto the amazing shots on PBase.com, which is like Flickr except that you need to pay to be on it (back in 2006, Flickr sucked too). Thus most of the photography is from professionals and serious amateurs. I found the site while looking for inspiration for some skyline shots of Grand Rapids to use in the Rampage’s media guide and website.

Downtown Nashville as seen from Chestnut Avenue Overpass

I was amazed by the “blue” tones of the night shots and wanted to figure out how to replicate those shots. Through a lot of trial and error as well as some help from some other PBase, I began learning the ins and outs of photography and today I’m a full-fledged photophile and PBase.com is where my websites is hosted – AndysPictures.com, SkylineShots.com and Lopusnak.com all go to my PBase account (PBase.com/andyshots); you can find over 37,000 individual images on my site and nearly 1,400 different galleries.

Nashville at Night on Broadway

A twist of fate made Nashville my first road city I put the tripod down to shoot and in an equally ironic quirk, I’m only now getting the opportunity to shoot the Music City again. I thought my shots way back then were great, but I was so new to shooting night shots and cities that essentially I treated Nashville this week like I’ve never been here. My feet can attest to that - I walked 19.7 miles (or nearly 42,000 steps) and climbed 88 flights of stairs on Saturday and Sunday (according to my Fitbit, a nifty digital pedometer). I hope the Titans became a really good team so I can come back here.

Silhouette of downtown Nashville at sunrise

I was all over Nashville and here’s a few of the highlights.

Panoramic photo of downtown Nashville from LP Field

TENNESSEE STATE CAPITOL

Seven years ago, I snapped my first state capitol when I was in Nashville. Now today, I have 39 of 50 and it’s one of my favorite things to shoot. When I clicked it back then, I just snapped it without any fanfare. Not this time.

The Tennessee State Capitol was built from 1845-59 and is one of just eleven state capitol buildings that doesn’t have a dome (the others: Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Alaska and Virginia). Check out my collection of 39 state capitol buildings BY CLICKING HERE.

POLK GRAVE SITE

On the grounds of the state capital is the grave of James Knox Polk, the eleventh U.S. president. It makes my eighth presidential burial site (CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY GALLERY). Polk promised to serve just one term and he died of cholera three months after his term ended. He was at the opening of the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Naval Academy, the groundbreaking for Washington Monument, and the issuance of the first U.S. postage stamps.

GRAND OLE OPRY

Since 1925, the Grand Ole Opry has been a weekly country music stage concert. All the great country music stars have performed here. I attended a show here back in 1997 when I was the videographer for the University of South Florida football team during the school’s inaugural season when they played at Western Kentucky. I remember taking pictures (on icky film), but cannot sadly have lost the prints and negatives.

The tour is about an hour and costs $19. You do get to walk onto the iconic Opry stage and tour all the themed dressing rooms.

OPRYLAND HOTEL

Next door to the Grand Ole Opry is the legendary Opryland Hotel. It is the largest non-casino hotel in the United Stated and is ranked as the 29th largest hotel in the world.

It has nearly 3,000 rooms and 15 restaurants sprawled onto six floors. I went inside to shoot its large atriums and waterfalls. Next time, hopefully not seven years from now, I’m going to shoot everything at night.

DUKES OF HAZZARD MUSEUM

Across the street from the Opryland Hotel main entrance, is Cooter’s Dukes of Hazzard Museum. It’s run by Ben Jones, who played Cooter Davenport, the Hazzard County mechanic and sidekick to the Duke boys in the CBS TV series that ran from January 26, 1979 to February 8, 1985. This place has props, costumes, memorabilia and cars from the show, including the 1969 Dodge Charger known as the General Lee.

It’s been almost 30 years since the show went off the air and there’s three lasting iconic things from it: the cutoff jeans known as Daisy Dukes (named after Catherine Bach’s character who wore them), the orange General Lee car with a Confederate flag emblazoned on the hood and the awesome Waylon Jennings’ theme song – “The Good Ol’ Boys.” Below is the opening credits…

THE PARTHENON

You don’t need to go to Greece to see the Parthenon, but to Nashville. In 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, a full-scale replica of the Athens was built. This building is awesome. It’s amazing to think that this is likely what the Parthenon in Greece looked like when it was built 2,500 years ago.

It was made a permanent structure in 1931 and even has a recreation of the Athena Parthenos statue inside that stands 42-feet tall. Nashville’s official moniker is “the Athens of the South” and was likely the inspiration for the building. Admission is $6 and well worth it to see the statue and what the inside likely looked like to the ancient world.

THE HERMITAGE - ANDREW JACKSON HOME & GRAVE

With the game being a 3:00 PM local kickoff, I decided to drive out to The Hermitage, the home and burial site of the seventh U.S. president: Andrew Jackson. The plantation is located ten miles outside Nashville and is located on more than 350 acres. Adding Jackson and Polk to my macabre collection of presidential graves makes nine I’ve photographed (CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY GALLERY).

The $19 admission charge is a bit steep for this place. It’s not like its Mount Vernon. I was the only one there when it opened at 8:30 in the morning, which was great for the photos not having anyone in the shots. If you decide to go, just do a search for Hermitage discount coupon. I saved $2.

Here’s one thing that most don’t know about Jackson – he paid off the entire national debt by his sixth year in office. However, this was very short lived because the country went through a severe depression in his final year in office and the U.S. still hasn’t paid off its national debt in full since.

MUSICA SCULPTURE AT MUSIC ROW

Built in 2003 as part of an urban revitalization, Musica is a bronze statue located in the center of the Music Row roundabout. It has nine nude figures dancing and stands 38 feet high. Five figures are at the base, four more are higher up and then a female figure holding a golden tambourine is at its height. It was created by Nashville-native artist Alan LeQuire, who also did the Athena Parthenos statue at the Nashville Parthenon.

TITANS 38, JETS 13

Tennessee quarterback Jake Locker threw a career-high three touchdown passes on 18-of-24 passes for 149 yards before he was carted off the field and sent to the hospital with a serious hip injury after a no-call, late-hit with 11:14 left in the third quarter.

The Jets turned the ball over four times that resulted into 28 Titans points – all four giveaways came from rookie signal caller Geno Smith, who has turned the ball over a league-high eleven times. If Smith was a team by himself, he’d have the second most turnovers in the league behind the Giants. Tennessee didn’t turn the ball over for the fourth straight game to start the season joining the 1995 St. Louis Rams as the only teams in the Super Bowl era to not have any giveaways through the first four games.

This was my fourth Jets-Titans game. In my 213 NFL on CBS games, I’ve covered the same teams four or more times eleven times. For non-division opponents, only the Baltimore-Houston rivalry (I did that last week) has more common games (five). Overall, my most common game are the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh and Houston-Indianapolis division rivalries (I’ve done seven of each).

For CBS, this is just my fifth game in Nashville and first since 2007. That makes the Music City one of my least visited AFC cities, which is sad since it’s a great place to shoot. Only Kansas City (four) has fewer home games that I’ve covered for an AFC team. Overall, Green Bay (three), St. Louis (three), Detroit (two), Dallas (one) and Chicago (one) have fewer CBS home games that I’ve covered. This is my fourth Jets-Titans game and the third played in Nashville. In fact, my last three NFL games here have been Jets-Titans.

The last time I covered a Jets-Titans game, it was in 2009 when the NFL celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Football League (the game was at the Meadowlands. The Titans wore their old Houston Oilers uniforms while the Jets wore their old New York Titans jerseys. It was the old Titans vs. the new Titans in the game. The Jets won that game 24-17. CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY OF THAT GAME. Here's a shot from that game with the Titans wearing their old Houston Oilers uniforms.

THE TIME LAPSE

Since this is a venue that I’ve never done a time lapse, I set up four cameras at various angles. I used both GoPros as well as my Canon 20D and 40D. This is the most different time lapse views I’ve taken since the Final Four championship game. Like last week, I combined all four into one view (and also made individual time lapses) as you can see below.

The GoPro 2 lasted five hours and 24 minutes (1,943 images) and stopped less than a minute after the game conclude.

That wasn’t the case for its big brother, the lousy GoPro 3, which sputtered to two hours and 59 minutes (1,066 shots) and died with 6:46 left in the second quarter.

Of course, I don’t need to worry about batteries with the Canon DSLRs and both went the distance and beyond.

I set up the 40D in the high end zone. It was hike up the stairs to get to the location I put this, but worth it.

The 20D was in the high sideline while the GoPro 2 was next to the CBS beauty camera in the right corner and the GoPro 3 was in the broadcast booth at the 50.

With LP Field checked off my time lapse collection, I have shot time lapses in 26 of the 32 NFL home stadiums (as well as in London). The elusive six remaining home teams I need are: Carolina, Cleveland, Jacksonville, New England, San Diego and Tampa Bay. There’s zero chance that my crew is doing any home games in Cleveland, Jacksonville or Tampa Bay this year. The last four weeks of the season are, in my estimate, the only time that I might get the other three. Fingers crossed!

Click on the links below to see the home venues I've created time lapses...

Arizona Cardinals (Corner View)

Atlanta Falcons (Corner View)

Atlanta Falcons (High Sideline)

Baltimore Ravens (Four different views)

Baltimore Ravens (Low End Zone)

Baltimore Ravens (High End Zone)

Buffalo Bills (Sideline - Rainy)

Buffalo Bills (Two different views)

Chicago Bears (High End Zone)

Chicago Bears (Corner View)

Cincinnati Bengals (Corner View)

Cincinnati Bengals (South End Zone)

Cincinnati Bengals (North End Zone)

Cincinnati Bengals (High Sideline)

Dallas Cowboys (Corner View)

Dallas Cowboys (Sideline)

Denver Broncos (High End Zone)

Denver Broncos (Corner View)

Detroit Lions (Corner)

Green Bay Packers (Corner View)

Green Bay Packers (Sideline)

Green Bay Packers (High End Zone)

Houston Texans (High End Zone)

Houston Texans (From TV Cart Camera)

Houston Texans (Sideline)

Houston Texans (Corner View)

Indianapolis Colts (Corner View)

Indianapolis Colts (Sideline)

Indianapolis Colts (High End Zone)

Indianapolis Colts (Low End Zone)

Kansas City Chiefs (High Sideline)

Kansas City Chiefs (Corner View)

Miami Dolphins (High End Zone)

Minnesota Vikings (End Zone)

New Orleans Saints (High Sideline)

New Orleans Saints (End Zone)

New Orleans Saints (Corner View)

New York Giants (Sideline)

New York Giants (Corner)

New York Jets (Sideline)

Oakland Raiders (Corner View)

Oakland Raiders (High End Zone)

Pittsburgh Steelers (Sideline)

Pittsburgh Steelers (Corner View)

Philadelphia Eagles (High End Zone)

Philadelphia Eagles (High Sideline)

Philadelphia Eagles (Corner View)

Philadelphia Eagles (Corner View - Day-to-Night)

San Francisco 49ers (High End Zone)

San Francisco 49ers (High Sideline)

Seattle Seahawks (End Zone)

St. Louis Rams (Corner View)

Tennessee Titans (Four different views)

Tennessee Titans (Corner View)

Tennessee Titans (Low Sideline)

Tennessee Titans (High Sideline)

Tennessee Titans (High End Zone)

Washington Redskins (High End Zone)

London (Wembley Stadium - 2 Views)

UP NEXT: New England at Cincinnati

I’m going to be flying into Charleston, West Virginia to get my 40th state capitol, so I’m pretty stoked for this weekend. Then, after getting into Cincy, I’ll drive 16 miles outside the city to photograph the grave of William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President, who died just 32 days into office. I have four different time lapses of Paul Brown Stadium (all from last season); so I have to scout out a possible new vantage point.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s a collection of my favorite photos from this weekend. Don’t forget to check out my new Nashville gallery by CLICKINGHERE.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Baltimore - Week 3

2013-09-25T17:34:00.001-07:00

Travel/Photo Blog: Baltimore (Week Three: HOU@BAL)

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

September 21-22, 2013

OY VEY! Once again I’m doing a Houston-Baltimore game. It’s the fourth time in the last 39 NFL games covered for CBS that I’m seeing these two teams. In fact, I’ve done more Houston (31) and Baltimore (30) games with CBS than any other team. I’ve also been to those two cities more than any other place.

I’m definitely not thrilled to be in Charm City again as I’ve shot the city so many times that finding something new is pretty hard, but not impossible. The weather sucked on Saturday, but I did get to shoot some of the Maryland-West Virginia college game though. On Sunday, the weather and most importantly, the cloud coverage, was outstanding.

You can read my previous Baltimore blogs by clicking on the following links:

2012 Week Ten (OAK@BAL)

2011 Week Eleven (CIN@BAL)

2011 Week Six (HOU@BAL)

I have an extensive Baltimore photo collection and you can view these by clicking here.

NEW VIEW OF DOWNTOWN

With my new 2013 approach of shooting, I scouted out a new view of downtown aside from in the Inner Harbor. I drove past downtown toward John Hopkins Hospital and set up my tripod at the corner of Caroline Street and Fayette Street and got the shot you see here.

JOHN HOPKINS AT NIGHT

After I got the shot above, I headed around the corner and nabbed this shot of John Hopkins University School of Medicine.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

I saw this monument the last time I was here, but it was only when I was leaving for the airport; so I knew I had to get it this time. I shot this Sunday morning and hope to get another snap of it when I’m here next time when there’s some clouds. This is a striking memorial that reminds me of the amazing one in Miami (CLICK HERE TO SEE). Instead of a hand grasping for freedom, the Baltimore version is a flame. Sadly, the lighting at night when I shot this is pretty poor and I need to get it next time during the day.

The Baltimore sculpture was created Maryland-native Joseph Sheppard, who did the Brooks Robinson statue (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). On Sheppard’s website, it says that “the sculpture represents the flame of death that offered the only escape from suffering for the Holocaust victims. In the flame, [Sheppard] depicts their images particular to their tragedy; old and young, male and female, starved, broken and naked. After the next generation there will be no more living eyewitnesses to the tragedy. This monument will be a grim reminder of the horror and will contribute to the prevention of any possible recurrence.”

NEW INNER HARBOR SHOTS

In the past, I’ve only shot the Inner Harbor for reflections of downtown. I will always do this, but this time I focused on the views from the shops of the Inner Harbor and also got more shots of the U.S.S. Constellation, the 1854 sloop-of-warship. One day, I’m going to go inside and get photos of this vessel.

AMERICA’S TALL SHIP

Docked in the Inner Harbor this past weekend was the USCGC Eagle, which is the only active steel hulled sailing vessel in US military service. It was commissioned on September 20, 1936 as the Horst Wessel in the Nazi Fleet. Ten years, it was transferred to the United States. Just 67 years and two days after its first commission, I visited it in Baltimore.

MARYLAND 37, WEST VIRGINIA 0

I knew Maryland had a game this weekend, but didn’t realize it was at the Ravens stadium until I got into town. So, I headed to the trucks and got a sideline pass for the game and shot the first quarter and part of the second before the downpour. I also set up three cameras for time lapses, but needed to leave at halftime to be at the CBS production meeting.

The Terps jumped to a 30-0 halftime lead thanks to cornerback A.J. Hendy having a pick six and two fumble recoveries. It was the Mountaineers’ first shutout since 2001 and had just 175 total yards of offense. Hendy’s first two takeaways led to the game’s first two scores. The first a six-yard deflected passing score from C.J. Brown to tight end Dave Stinebaugh. Just two plays later, Hendy intercepted Ford Childress and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown.

Maryland used hand-painted helmets for the game. These are simply awesome. It is the first time that any team has used hand-painted helmets. Each helmet features the four quadrants of the Maryland flag in motion and are individually numbered 1-200. Under Armour calls the helmets and the custom uniforms used for this game as "Maryland Pride 2.0."

BALTIMORE 30, HOUSTON 9

Houston jumped out to a 6-0 lead on two red-zone field goals. In the final 34:11 of the game, the Ravens outscored the Texans 30-3 thanks to two return touchdowns within 1:54 (37-yard interception return and 82-yard punt return).

This game featured the two teams that I’ve covered for CBS the most. It was my 31st Texans game and 30th Ravens game, additionally it is the 15th time I’ve done a Baltimore home game (16 if you include an Army-Navy game I did). The 15 is the most of any home team I’ve covered for CBS. The Ravens are 11-4 in those games. It the 17th time I’ve covered the Texans on the road and Houston is just 2-15 in those games.

THE TIME LAPSES

I did six different time lapses (three for each game). For the Maryland game, I only had the cameras out for the first half since I needed to leave to be at the CBS production meeting. So, I combined the three time lapses into one. I had the GoPro Hero 2 in the corner, the Hero 3 in the broadcast booth and the Canon 40D in the high end zone.

For the Texans-Ravens game, I put the Hero 2 and Canon 40D in the same place, but moved the Hero 3 from the CBS broadcast booth location to one level up where the TV cameras were located. This time, the Hero 3’s battery was better (three hours, four minutes – 1,106 shots), but still fall way short of the old Hero 2 (five hours, nine minutes – 1,857 shots). I uploaded these three separately as well as combined like the one above, which you can view below. I’ve also spliced in my other M&T Bank Stadium time lapses into it. I think it looks good.

Previous, I did two different M&T Bank Stadium time lapses. Click for the previous ones: HIGH SIDELINE and ON THE FIELD.

UP NEXT: NY Jets at Tennessee

Thus far this is the game I’ve circled and am most excited to shoot. I haven’t been to Nashville since 2007 and need L.P. Field as a time-lapse venue. Once I get L.P. Field, then I’ll need six other NFL stadiums to have a time lapse in every NFL venue. These other six are: Carolina, Cleveland, Jacksonville, New England, San Diego and Tampa Bay.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s my favorite shots from this past weekend.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Philadelphia: Week Two 2013 (SD@PHI)

2013-09-18T10:16:00.001-07:00

Travel/Photo Blog: Philadelphia (Week Two: SD@PHI)

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

September 14-15, 2013

For the second straight year, I found myself in Philly doing an NFL game. I’ve already done two blogs on the City of Brotherly Love the previous two seasons. You can read my 2011 write up by clicking here and last year’s blog by clicking here. Philadelphia is a fantastic city to shoot and once again, the weather was great.

VIEW MY BEST OF PHILLY

Click here to view my Philadelphia galleries on my website to see the best shots I’ve taken over the course of my trips to the City of Brotherly Love.

PHILLY AERIALS

When landing at the airport, the view from the right side of the plane into Philadelphia is awesome. I’ve shot it numerous times and this time was again tremendous. You can view all of my Philly aerial shots by clicking here.

BACK TO 1776

Like Boston, Philadelphia has many buildings and historical sites within walking distance dating back to the Revolutionary War. In a short vicinity from Independence Hall, you can walk to Benjamin Franklin’s grave, the Betsy Ross House, Elfreth’s Alley and Christ Church. This was the first time I hit all of these historic sites via foot power.

I also took the Philly subway to get from my hotel to Independence Hall. It’s very confusing with multiple different rail companies and smelled like urine at the three different stations I went through. It makes the NYC subway system look like a palace.

INDEPENDENCE HALL

I’ve photographed the exterior of Independence Hall numerous times, but went online and got a ticket to go inside this time. It’s free, but there’s a $1.50 per ticket charge for the online convenience. Independence Hall is where the Constitution was built in 1753 and is where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.

The best preserved copies of the original Declaration and Constitution are currently housed in the National Archives in Washington D.C. Today, you cannot photograph the documents, but back in 2007 it was okay to shoot them without flash. You can click here to view the two bedrock documents for the United States of America.

LIBERTY BELL

The Liberty Bell was created to go in Independence Hall’s steeple. It of course cracked the first time it was rung, but still was placed in the steeple. The bell is now across the street from Independence Hall at the Liberty Bell Center.

I’ve photographed the Liberty Bell from the outside previously, but had never been inside the Liberty Bell Center until this trip. It’s also free to go inside. The line is long, but goes very quickly.

CITY HALL

In the first two weeks of the NFL season, I’ve shot perhaps the best two looking city halls in the country (Buffalo last week and Philly this week). Philadelphia’s City Hall was built from 1871-1901 and for eight years it was the tallest habitable building in the world (1901-08). Even today, it is the largest municipal building in the US.

It is topped by a 37-foot, 27-ton bronze statue of city founder William Penn and is one of 250 sculptures adorned inside and outside of the building created by Alexander Milne Calder. Penn’s statue is tallest atop any building in the world. Baltimore, where I’ll be this upcoming weekend, has a great City Hall as well (click here to view). Since I’ve had numerous weeks of great city hall buildings, I decided to create a City Hall photo gallery (click here to view).

BEN FRANKLIN’S BURIAL SITE

Around the corner from Independence Hall is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin at Christ Church’s Burial Ground.

BETSY ROSS HOUSE

Apparently there’s some doubt that this is actually the house that Ross lived in and designed the original American flag. The house is original from around 1740 and the remains of Ross and her third husband, John Claypoole, were moved to the courtyard in the 1970s.

SAN DIEGO 33, PHILADELPHIA 30

Both quarterbacks tossed for over 400 yards with San Diego’s Philip Rivers completing 36-of-47 (77%) for 419 yards with three touchdowns (all to Eddie Royal) and Philadelphia’s Michael Vick tossing for a career-high 428 yards with three total touchdowns (two pass/one rush).

The Chargers’ kicker Nick Novak hit a 46-yard field goal with seven seconds left to win it. Three players caught over 100 yards (SD’s Antony Gates had 124 while DeSean Jackson posted 193 yards with a touchdown and LeSean McCoy had a career-high 114 receiving yards. San Diego’s 539 total yards is the most for the Chargers since 1985 and Royal became the first to have two receiving TDs in back-to-back games for the Bolts since Wes Chandler in 1982.

If history is any indication, then the Chargers should go on to win Super Bowl XLVIII. Philadelphia’s first home game for the previous four seasons all went on to win the Super Bowl. It started in 2009, when the Eagles hosted the New Orleans Saints, then the Green Bay Packers, then the New York Giants and last year the Baltimore Ravens. All went on to win the Super Bowl each year. Will this weird streak continue? Vegas doesn’t seem to think so with the Chargers a 40-to-1 odds of winning the Big Game (SF has the league’s best odds at 6-to-1). You can view my complete gallery of pregame shots from this game by clicking here.

THE TIME LAPSE

I set up both GoPro cameras and of course the fancy, new Hero 3 sucked because the battery is a joke not evening lasting until kickoff (just one hour and 42 minutes). The Hero 2 was once again a rock star lasting five hours and 32 minutes. I found that the Battery BacPac for the Hero 3 was blinking red, which might be the reason why it sucked so much.

This is my fourth different time lapse of Lincoln Financial Field. Click the links below my other views of HIGH END ZONE, BEAUTY SHOT and HIGH SIDELINE. For this time lapse, I set up my GoPro Hero 2 back where I did my first time lapse here in the corner by the CBS "beauty shot." Click here to see my Lincoln Financial Field photo galleries.

MEMORIAL HALL/PLEASE TOUCH MUSEUM

This is last surviving major building from the 1876 Centennial Exposition, which was officially the first World’s Fair, and celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Luckily, I got here at the perfect moment with perfect lighting to get photos. In 2008, Memorial Hall was transformed inside to become the Please Touch Museum, which is targeted for kids seven years and younger.

CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL – SMITH MEMORIAL ARCH

In Fairmont Park less than two hundred yards from Memorial Hall are two huge arch/pillar structures on each side of the road. Built on the grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition. The Smith Memorial Arch is adorned with 13 individual portrait sculptures, two eagles standing on globes and reliefs of eight allegorical figures. It was started in 1897 and finally finished in 1912.

I had no clue this was here in Philly and will come back to shoot it when it isn’t that dark. Sadly, this monument isn’t lit up at night. It would be an awesome shot if this was in a busy intersection to get the car trails and the double arches/pillars.

CHINATOWN FRIENDSHIP GATE

Marking the entrance of Philadelphia’s Chinatown district, the Friendship Gate was the first built in the United States by Chinese artisans. The gate weighs 88 tons and stands 40-feet high. The four Chinese characters translate to “Philadelphia Chinatown.”

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY

Built in 1829 and closed as a jail in 1971, the Eastern State Penitentiary is considered the world’s first true penitentiary. Al Capone was once jailed here. It was also used as a setting in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys. It wasn’t open when I drove by and will try to take a tour next time I’m in Philly.

UP NEXT: Houston at Baltimore

Once again, I’m doing the Texans-Ravens game. It marks the fifth time overall and the fourth in the last three seasons. To say I’m excited to do this game or go to Baltimore once game is just a lie. In my CBS travels the teams with the most games covered are these two, so I’m pretty sick of Baltimore-Houston as a game and the respective cities. This time, I’m going to focus on some Inner Harbor for day and night shots.

SAN JOSE AERIALS
On the way home, I got some good aerial photos of downtown San Jose. Here's one of them. The window was very dirty, so hopefully I can get some better ones in the coming weeks.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s my favorite photos from this weekend.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Buffalo – Week One NE@BUF

2013-09-12T13:21:00.003-07:00

Photo/Travel Blog: Buffalo – Week One NE@BUF

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

September 7-9, 2013

The NFL regular season kicked off this past weekend with me in Buffalo covering the opener between the Patriots and the Bills. In my now 14^th season with CBS Sports, this is the second time I’ve started the year in Buffalo. The previous was in 2007 when the Denver Broncos beat the Bills 15-14 thanks to a 42-yard Jason Elam field goal as time expired. This is my 12th time covering a game for CBS in Buffalo, but just my third in the last four years.

NEW APPROACH

Since I’ve been to most all of the NFL host cities and photographed them numerous times, I’ve been getting the same shots. So, I’ve created a new to-shoot list for each city hoping to get some new photographs. This was my first week doing so and I actually really enjoyed Buffalo. It’s usually a drag coming to upstate New York, but this time was very fresh and I have plenty to shoot next time I have a game in Buffalo. Sadly, it was very overcast on Saturday morning when I landed and very raining in the afternoon. Sunday was beautiful though.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S BUFFALO

Using my new approach, I had a mission once I landed in Buffalo. I went directly to downtown and spent two hours driving around to get shots of the numerous Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Buffalo has the most FLW buildings outside of Chicago, where his offices were located. In fact, there’s currently seven FLW-designed structures in the city of Buffalo. All of the FLW structures were shot in the poor Saturday weather, so I’ll need to come back and get these again next time.

Click here to see more shots of the FLW buildings.

The Buffalo FLW structures are:

- Martin House (125 Jewett Pkwy)

- Barton House (118 Summit Ave)

- Gardener’s Cottage (285 Woodward Ave)

- Davidson House (57 Tillinghast Place)

- Heath House (76 Soldiers Place)

- Blue Sky Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery(1411 Delaware)

- Fontana Boathouse (One Rotary Row – Foot of Porter Ave next to West Side Rowing Club)

The first three are located in the same vicinity and to me looks like the same complex, while the bottom two were designed by FLW but were only completed recently. Another FLW structure is under construction and when completed will be one of the best ones, but sadly isn’t going to be completed for a long time. It will be located at the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum and is the 1927-designed Buffalo Filing Station (click here to see what one of these look like – this one is in Minnesota).

Additionally, there’s one of his largest buildings in nearby Derby, NY named Graycliff. I was going to go, but you need reservations to visit. I’ll attempt to get this next time.

FOREST LAWN CEMETARY HIGHLIGHTS

At Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery, there is a former president and a funk legend buried here as well as one of the numerous Frank Lloyd Wright structures. This cemetery has approximately 152,000 graves and was established in 1849.

In 1928, Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Blue Sky Mausoleum which was the last of four projects commissioned by Darwin D. Martin (remember the Martin house). It was finally completed in 2004, contains 24 crypts and is one of just three FLW memorial sculptures in the world.

Millard Fillmore, the 13th United States president, is buried in Buffalo. He was the vice president for Zachary Taylor, who died just 16 months into office and finished out Taylor’s term. Fillmore is considered one of the ten worst presidents in U.S. history and signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act to win support from the South in the Mexican-American War (the act was overruled by the Supreme Court nine years later. He co-founded the University of Buffalo. His grave is a pink obelisk and very unremarkable. Apparently, much like his presidency.

I realized I’ve been to numerous cemeteries across the country getting photos of famous graves and looked into how many former U.S. presidential burial sites I’ve photographed. I’ve got seven of the possible 38 dead presidents (there are five living and one that was president twice) and created a gallery of these places (click here to view). Since I have most of the state capitals, might as well start a new quest. Only bad thing is that many of the state capitals I shot late at night and cemeteries are closed after dark. So, I created a document with all the former presidents and the location of their graves. I should be adding a lot of these by the end of my NFL/college football schedule this year. These some that I will never get because they are in the middle of nowhere.

When I was driving around in the cemetery, I stumbled across the grave of Rick James – the super freak himself. I was honestly shocked that the grave didn’t say “I’m Rick James bitch.”

BUFFALO HISTORY MUSEUM

This is one of just a few structures left from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. Click here to see what this looked like in 1901. Look at the far left about a third of the way up and you’ll see the Buffalo History Museum. It would’ve been awesome if all these structures were still around, but they were all torn down because they were cheaply made since they were supposed to only be temporary like most world’s fairs. It’s the same thing with the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco when SF hosted the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 (it stands as the only building from the Expo – click here to see my shots of the Palace of Fine Arts).

The Buffalo History Museum was called the New York State Building and was built to look similar to the Parthenon in Athens (click here to view my gallery of the Parthenon replica in Nashville, Tennessee). It survived only because it was built to last. Same for what is now the Albright-Knox Art Museum (though it wasn’t completed in time for the Expo. The centerpiece of the Expo, the Electric Tower, was demolished, but it inspiration for the 13-story Beaux-Arts Electric Tower in downtown Buffalo (click here to view a photo of it). In front of the Buffalo History Museum is a nice Japanese Peace Garden.

TEDDY ROOSEVELT INAUGURATION HOUSE

Not only does Buffalo have a grave of a former U.S. president, it also is the city in which a president was assassinated and a new one was sworn in. On September 6, 1901, president William McKinley was a shot while attending the 1901 Pan-American Exposition by Leon Czolgosz at a meet and greet at the Temple of Music building (click here to see a photo of a marker spot since the Temple of Music was demolished after the Expo). He died eight days later and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th U.S. president at the Wilcox House as seen below. Today, across the street from the important historical building is a Walgreens.

Speaking of McKinley, around the block from where I live in San Jose, California there’s a big statue/sculpture of the 25th president. Four months before the assassination, McKinley visited San Jose and spoke to a large crowd at St. James Park (click here to see one of my shots of it).

BUFFALO INSANE ASYLUM

Near the Buffalo History Museum is the awesome 1870-built Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane. It was built by H.H. Richardson, who used this building as the first of the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture. He designed my favorite state capital – New York’s in Albany (click here to view it). His style was used for city halls in Minneapolis and Cincinnati.

OUR LADY OF VICTORY BASILICA

I shot this striking church last year, but since the Botanical Garden is right around the corner, I snagged this wide shot of the basilica. Most of the exterior is made from pure white marble. The Great Dome is 165 feet high and was second in size to the U.S. Capital in Washington, DC when it was completed in 1926. Here are four copper 18-foot high, trumpet-playing angels mounted on the dome.

OLV is located just south of the city of Buffalo in little Lackawanna, the hometown to former NFL QB Ron Jaworski and Mike Mamula, a player the Philadelphia Eagles loved so much that they traded picks in the 1995 NFL draft to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those picks directly led to the Bucs taking Warren Sapp, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, and Derrick Brooks, who will join Sapp next season. Thank you Philly for being so stupid.

BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY BOTANICAL GARDENS

Built in 1900, the Botanical Gardens’ Victorian-era tri-domed glass, wood and steel building houses showcases tropical plant species. It wasn’t open when I was there, but I got some great exterior shots. There are fewer than a dozen large Victorian conservatories like this in the United States. It was designed based upon the look of the Crystal Palace and Kew Gardens Palm House in England. Though literally across the street from the basilica, this is actually located in Buffalo not Lackawanna.

THE GAME: NEW ENGLAND 23, BUFFALO 21

For the 35^th time in his Hall of Fame career New England QB Tom Brady orchestrated game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. He was six-of-six on that drive that led to a Stephen Gostkowski 35-yard game-winning field goal with five seconds left. Brady is now 21-2 all-time against the Bills and extended his streak of games with at least a touchdown pass to 49, which is the second-longest streak in NFL history. He ended with two touchdown strikes, both to Julian Edelman (career high).

Buffalo started first-round pick E.J. Manuel at QB and he tossed two touchdowns in the loss. The Bills also had a new head coach, former Syracuse headman Doug Marrone. Sadly for Buffalo fans, all 16 head coaches in Bills history have now lost their NFL debuts.

This was my fourth Pats-Bills game with three of those being in Buffalo. New England has won all four games. In games I’ve covered, the Pats are 18-4 and the Bills are now 7-12.

THE TIME LAPSE

I took a time lapse here back in 2010 and since I wasn’t going to be leaving right after the game, I decided to use both GoPro cameras to get a sideline and end zone time lapse of the game. The weather turned from gray and mucky to beautiful. Sadly, I should have set up the old Hero 2 camera in the end zone and the Hero 3 on the sideline from the TV booth since the battery life of the new, fancy GoPro is not as good as the old camera. If you want to see the 2010 time lapse, click here. I also made a TV booth time lapse of what goes on in the booth during the game (click here to view).

Since the battery of the Hero 3 is terrible, I combined the two time lapses into one. I used the GoPro Hero 2 for the sidleline view. It took one shot every ten seconds lasting five hours and 11 minutes for a total of 1,828 images. The Hero 3 did the end zone view. It took one shot every thirty seconds lasting two hours and 45 minutes for a total of 333 images. There must be something wrong with the batteries with the newest GoPro because I’m getting double this time in the Hero 2. It's unacceptable.

GRAIN ELEVATORS

Invented in Buffalo in 1843, grain elevators are abundant in the city. However, most are abandoned. Buffalo was the world’s largest grain port from the 1850’s until the first half of the 20th century. General Mills has one of the few still working grain elevators. Buffalo has a plan to use the old, abandoned grain elevators as a tourism asset. You can see the plan by clicking here. If this comes to fruition, then I’m all aboard.

UB STADIUM

Along with my new approach to shooting cities, I’ve decided to expand my stadium galleries and drove out to the University of Buffalo and took shots of UB Stadium. So all told in my sports venues galleries, I have 235 in total.

NOT FALLING

Because of my focus on Buffalo, I didn’t go to Niagara Falls for the first time since 2006 when I began my photographic journeys. Last year, I did the Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds tours (click here to view that blog & photos).

MORE FROM BUFFALO/NIAGARA FALLS

You can view my very best photos from Buffalo by clicking here and the best of the best from Niagara Falls by clicking here.

AERIAL OF NYC

On my flight home on Monday morning, my first leg was to JFK and on the approach to the airport, I got some great shots of Manhattan.

UP NEXT: SAN DIEGO AT PHILADELPHIA

For the second straight year, I’m going to be in Philly for Week Two. I’ve done two blogs on Philly. Click here to see my blog from 2011 and 2012.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s my favorite photos from this weekend in Buffalo.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Caragher era with SJSU begins with 24-0 shutout

2013-09-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Caragher era with SJSU begins with 24-0 shutout

By Andy Lopusnak, Bay Area Sports Drive Magazine

August 30, 2013

San Jose State had its most successful season last year and extended its win streak to eight straight shutting out Sacramento State 24-0 Thursday night in its 2013 opener. Last year, SJSU went 11-2, won the Military Bowl and posted its best ranking in the finals rankings (#21 in the AP & USA Today Coaches Polls). SJSU has now won 14 of its last 16 games.

New changes for the Spartans come in 2013 as the school made its debut in the Mountain West Conference after playing 17 years in the Western Athletic Conference (joining former WAC member Utah State). Additionally, Ron Caragher begins his first year as head coach after posting a 44-22 record at the University of San Diego (2012 head coach Mike MacIntyre now holds the same position with the University of Colorado).

Caragher, the 17th head coach in SJSU history, is just the fifth to win his debut. In the past ten years, San Jose State has opened its season at home just four times and has won every one of those games. SJSU opened on the road the previous four seasons with losses against ranked opponents including three of those against schools ranked in the top six.

Last year, the SJSU passing offense was one of the best in the FBS finishing first in completion percentage (71.8%) and sixth overall in passing yards per game (332.7).

QB David Fales completed just 50% of his passes for 225 yards with two touchdown passes against the Hornets. It was his ninth straight game with at least two TD passes. His favorite target was Chandler Jones, who had eight receptions for 130 yards, including a 31-yard TD strike early in the second quarter. Both of Fales’ touchdowns came in the second quarter with the other going to Noel Grigsby with 26 seconds left in the first half. Grigsby finished with four catches for 51 yards. It marked the 35th straight game with at least a catch for the school’s all-time leading receiver, which tied a school record with Jalal Beachman.

San Jose State’s other touchdown came midway through the third quarter when Jason Simpson burst through the line for a 55-yard ground score. His 135 rushing yards were a career high. SJSU’s defense recorded four sacks, two by Eugene Taylor, and intercepted the Hornets twice.

The matchup against Sacramento State was the first despite the two schools being just a two-hour drive apart (127 miles). Though in other sports the two schools were members of the same conference in the past.

San Jose State’s next game is Saturday, September 7 at Stanford. One of SJSU’s two losses last year was against then 21st ranked Stanford when the Spartans fell 20-17 (the game was tied at 17 during the fourth quarter). SJSU’s next home game isn’t until Friday, September 27 against Utah State, which was the Spartans’ other loss last season.

-- BayAreaSportsDrive.com --

TRAVEL/PHOTO BLOG: Denver and 2013 NFL Preview

2013-08-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

TRAVEL/PHOTO BLOG: Denver and 2013 NFL Preview

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

August 23-25, 2013

Last year, my NFL season ended in the dramatic double overtime thriller in Denver and this year my CBS NFL season begins in the Mile High City. I’ve already photographed the Broncos this preseason shooting them and the 49ers two weeks ago at Candlestick Park with Denver prevailing 10-6 (view those images by clicking here).

This past January when I was here was fantastic and you can read all about my trip that time by clicking here. Also, please visit my Denver galleries by clicking here. The clouds were killer this time and I got some new and replacement photos. I didn’t get a chance to venture out and get some new angles, but since my crew will likely be back at least once this season, I already have a list of things to shoot next time.

D&F TOWER

I’m amazed by this tower, which when built in 1909, was the tallest man-made structure west of the Mississippi River. It was modeled after the iconic Campanile located at St. Mark's Square in Venice (click here to see one of my shots of the Campanile). D&F Tower stands at 325 feet, while the Campanile is 323 feet tall.

I stayed at the downtown Westin, which is next door to the tower and I went out to the pool deck (4^th floor) and got the night shot below.

Last time, I was here CBS stayed at the Four Seasons and my room was directly in front of the D&F Tower and I got the shot below.

CITY & COUNTY BUILDING

In January, this building was still lit up for Christmas (click here to look at what it looked like). This time, I got some awesome day shots. Sadly, the state capital building, which is in the same plaza, was still under renovations. I have plenty of shots of the capital, but am always looking for better ones. Maybe the renovations will be done by the next time I’m in Denver.

VIEW OF DOWNTOWN FROM THE STADIUM

With the clouds looking amazing, I went to the upper level of Sports Authority Field at Mile High to get some new shots of downtown Denver. Though the stadium isn’t in the heart of downtown, it’s far enough away to have a great scenic view of Denver.

GAME: DENVER 27, ST. LOUIS 26

I was excited to get shots of former Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford in a jersey to add to my Heisman gallery. Last time I did a Rams game, Bradford didn’t play so I had to resort to getting a shot of him in street clothes (click here to view).

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was 25-of-34 for 234 yards with a touchdown and an interception. For St. Louis, QB Sam Bradford was nine-of-16 for 110 yards with a touchdown. He started six-of-six and threw a three-yard touchdown on his first pass attempt.

Denver turned the ball over four times, which led to 16 St. Louis points. The Rams opted to go for the win with a two-point conversion after scoring with 1:56 left, however, receiver Brian Quick dropped the would-be game winner.

St. Louis linebacker Alec Ogletree had a stellar game picking off a pass, forcing a fumble, then returning said fumble for a touchdown and adding six tackles (two for loss).

There were three former #1 overall picks in this game (Manning, 1998; Jake Long, 2008; and Bradford, 2010). Click here to see my gallery of former #1 overall NFL draft picks. I’ve photographed 20 different #1 overall draft picks.

TIME LAPSE: THE BROADCAST BOOTH

I’d already created two time lapses of Sports Authority Field (a corner shot from the 2012 playoff game and a high sideline view from 2010); so I opted to shoot one of the broadcast booth. This year, I’ll be doing more views of what goes on in the broadcast booth since I won’t be getting many of the stadiums I need to complete the circuit.

This time lapse was shot every ten seconds for a total of 969 usable pictures and the batteries last almost five hours. I really like out this turned out with the NFL on CBS logo in the background.

PREDICTING WHERE I’M GOING

Last year, I predicted correctly ten of the 17 regular season games that I would cover. Thus far, I’m three for four. The highlight of the first four regular season games to me is in Week Four (NY Jets at Tennessee). It marks the first time I’ve been back in Nashville since Week 16 of 2007. That game was also Jets at Titans. Tennessee is my least visited AFC team along with Kansas City, which I’ve been too just four times.

Nashville is also the site of where my explosion in sports and city photography began as this was where Week One of 2006 was for me (also a Jets-Titans game and the NFL debut of Vince Young).

Additionally and most importantly, LP Field is another new NFL venue for a time lapse. Once Tennessee is added, it’ll make 26 out of 32 home venues that’ll have created a time lapse (27th if you include London). The six remaining home venues that I’ve not done a time lapse are: Carolina, Cleveland, Jacksonville, New England, San Diego and Tampa Bay.

Looking at the final 13 weeks, there’s slim pickings to get any of those elusive six venues. Here’s a look at the CBS games in the final 13 weeks for each of the six (note: flex scheduling kicks in from Weeks 11-17 and NBC can switch for better matchups).

Carolina: Wk 15 (NYJ@CAR)

Cleveland: Wk 9 (BAL@CLE); Wk 12 (PIT@CLE); Wk 13 (JAX@CLE)

Jacksonville: Wk 7 (SD@JAX); Wk 15 (BUF@JAX); Wk 16 (TEN@JAX)

New England: Wk 8 (MIA@NE); Wk 9 (PIT@NE); Wk 14 (CLE@NE); Wk 17 (BUF@NE)

San Diego: Wk 10 (DEN@NYG); Wk 13 (CIN@SD); Wk 16 (OAK@SD); Wk 17 (KC@SD)

Tampa Bay: Wk 14 (BUF@TB)

NBC has New England twice during flex scheduling (against Denver & Baltimore) and none of the other teams. I don’t see them giving those pats games back to CBS and I don’t see NBC taking any of the home games for Cleveland, Jacksonville or San Diego. Carolina and Tampa Bay only host the AFC twice and each has a Monday Night Football game so the Week 14 Bucs and Week 15 Panthers games are the only opportunities this year unless NBC takes one of them.

Truly dreading the likely back-to-back games in Houston. Or going to New York back-to-back (and three times within six games). I love NYC and even Houston, but I’ve had so many games in those locations that I just hope to get something new. Here’s a look at my best guesses for where I’ll be going this season.

WK	ANDY GUESS	ACTUAL
1	Cincinnati at Chicago	NE@BUF
2	San Diego at Philadelphia	SD@PHI
3	Houston at Baltimore	HOU@BAL
4	NY Jets at Tennessee	NYJ@TEN
5	New England at Cincinnati
6	Pittsburgh at NY Jets
7	New England at NY Jets
8	Buffalo at New Orleans
9	San Diego at Washington
10	Oakland at NY Giants
11	Kansas City at Denver
12	Jacksonville at Houston
13	New England at Houston
14	Cleveland at New England
15	NY Jets at Carolina
16	Pittsburgh at Green Bay
17	Denver at Oakland

BACK TO SAN JOSE

We moved back to the South Bay due to Bethany’s job back in June. This was my first trip out of SJC in over a year. I truly hate the San Jose airport. As a Delta Diamond flyer, this has to be the worst airport for a major metropolitan city in the US. San Jose is the largest city in Northern California as well as the tenth largest in the country, but there’s just one Delta gate at this place. It’s a joke. Thankfully, I live just two miles from the airport which is the only good thing.

Most of the flights I’ll be taking this year will be puddle jumpers to and from Salt Lake City to other locations. Ugh. For a location that is home to more multi-millionaires per capita than any location in the world, you’d think Silicon Valley would have a better airport. Yes, SFO is better (not by much for a Delta flyer), but it’s almost an hour drive away. Sadly, my first trip this 2013 NFL season started with a three and a half hour delay in Salt Lake City. That meant that my short travel day turned into a 13-hour day.

UP NEXT: Week One – New England at Buffalo

In two weeks, I’ll be heading to upstate New York for the 2013 regular season opener. I’ve been to Buffalo and thus Niagara Falls numerous times. My plan this time is to capture all of the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings since Buffalo has the most FLW structures outside of Chicago (where his office was located).

BEST OF THE BLOG
Here's a look at my favorite shots from this trip to the Mile High City that you haven't already seen in this blog.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Travel/Photo Blog: Final Four 2013

2013-04-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

2013 FINAL FOUR (ATLANTA)

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com
April 15, 2013

The 2013 Final Four marked my third straight year covering college basketball’s top event. It was my second photographing the four teams in a studio setting and my first as the main-truck statistician.

Just like in Houston (2011) and New Orleans (2012), the Atlanta Final Four was in the NFL stadium and in a city that I’ve photographed numerous times. Unlike the previous years, the game and all the events as well as my hotel were all in a short walking distance.

The first two days in Atlanta were rainy and quite dreary, but the rest of the week was near perfect weather with fantastic clouds.

TEAM PHOTO SHOOTS

I previously photographed three of the Final Four teams (Louisville, Michigan and Syracuse) during the season and would get to shoot them again as well as Wichita State on the Thursday before the Final Four.

The images were used for the games as well as in pre-game features like one about Louisville’s Kevin Ware who suffered a horrible and graphic injury the previous week. Here's a photo collage for each of the four teams.

BEHIND THE SCENES
In addition to my images, CBS had numerous specialty video shoots for the Final Four. I took some behind the scenes photos of these that you can see below.

REECE’S ALL-STAR TIME LAPSE

On Friday, the college basketball all-star game took place at the dome and like the previous two years at the Final Four, I took a time lapse of the event.

CONCERT PHOTOS

Like last year when I photographed KISS and Jimmy Buffett from the pit, I had the chance to do the same for three concerts over the weekend – the Zac Brown Band, Sting and the Dave Matthews Band. The first was on Friday night, while the other two were Sunday evening.

POST-CONCERT FIREWORKS

After Zac Brown on Friday and Dave Matthews on Sunday, there were fireworks in Olympic Centennial Park. For Friday, I photographed the fireworks from the 13^th floor of the Omni where I was staying to get some of downtown Atlanta and the colorful Ferris wheel. Then I did close up shots on Sunday. that didn't come out as nice as the Friday images.

NATIONAL ANTHEMS
Using my multiple cameras set up for time lapses, I got some great shots of the national anthem for the semifinals game (bottom left) and the title game (the other three).

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS TIME LAPSE

I was going to do multiple time lapses from various locations, but when I was setting up found out that two of my super clamps were broken and just did one.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TIME LAPSES

With all of Atlanta’s pro camera stores closed on Sunday (I guess because Georgia’s in the Bible Belt), I had to wait until Monday to get new super clamps. I set up four different time lapses using my 20D, 40D, GoPro 2 and GoPro 3.

POST-TITLE PHOTOS

After the game and my job was done, I went to the court and got a few photos of the Cardinals' cutting down the nets. Some of the shots are wide shots from my four time lapses as well.

-- AndysPictures.com -

Travel/Photo Blog: Austin (Kansas at Texas)

2013-01-25T22:31:00.000-08:00

TRAVEL/PHOTO BLOG: Austin (Kansas at Texas)
By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com
January 17-19, 2013

It’s déjà vu all over again. On this same weekend a year ago, I was in Austin doing the Kansas-Texas game and I’m back for round two. Last year, I took lots of great shots of the Lone Star capital and the city. One of my favorite places to shoot is along Lady Bird Lake, which flows more like a lazy river through downtown. Its slow current is awesome for near mirror-like reflections of the skyline.

My first two days in Austin, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (much like last year). However, on game day the sky was outstanding and I nabbed a lot of great shots with the beautiful sky and great reflections. I didn’t get the chance, but wanted to visit the Museum of the Weird. Maybe next time.

CATHEDRAL OF JUNK

Vince Hannemann began building his temple to trash in 1988 and he believes that it has more the 60 tons of junk. This is actually located in Vince’s backyard in a residential neighborhood.

It’s nearly invisible from the road and you could easily just drive by without noticing. When I arrived, Vince welcomed me into his scrap shrine. He even offered me a beer. Well worth a stop if you’re in Austin. Hopefully Vince’s home if you stop by or else you can’t see it.

FOODIE JAUNTS

Austin is a foodie paradise. It has more food trucks per capita than any city in the world and has some awesome BBQ and burgers. I had one of my best burgers and absolutely the best fries ever at the Counter Café. This place is only up from 7am-4pm. I had lunch my first day in Austin there and had a cheese burger with fries. Simple, but OMG tasty. Cooked perfectly medium rare.

For dinner my second night, three other CBS crew members and I drove 20 miles outside of Austin to The Salt Lick. It’s in the middle of nowhere, but the BBQ is delicious and all you can eat for $20. On Sunday morning at the airport, there’s a smaller Salt Lick and the biscuits & gravy with the brisket mixed in is awesome.

LBJ MUSEUM

On the UT campus is the presidential library and museum for Lyndon Johnson, the 36^th US President. It’s free, though they just started taking donations. Included inside the three stories of exhibits are a 1/8^th scale replica of what the Oval Office looked like under LBJ, a joke-cracking animatronic LBJ, a presidential limo and artifacts from the time of the LBJ administration.

GHOST TOWN

After the game, I drove about half an hour outside of Austin to snap some shots of the J. Lorraine Ghost Town in Manor. It’s a revision of an Old West neutral territory for outlaws and lawmen. The owner, George who I met, built it in the 1980s and it’s now essentially a bar & grill with a pretty good burger. It has free movies on a big screen on the weekends. I grabbed a burger and stayed for some night shots of the empty town.

The story goes that George bought the land to do some farming and unearthed some old wood planks and other artifacts just a few feet underground. A small stack of stuff became a larger one and he stopped everything to find out what all of it was from.

After some research, he found out that in the late 19^th century there was a small town of less than 500 named J. Lorraine. There are some different stories of how J. Lorraine met its end. One says that it was destroyed by a hurricane and another claims that an angry mob of nearby citizens burnt it to the ground. Anyway, George decided to rebuild the old town with all the wood he found.

KANSAS 64, TEXAS 59

The fourth ranked Jayhawks, winners of 14 straight entering the game, trailed for most of the game and erased an 11-point second-half points to beat the slumping Longhorns 64-59. Kansas freshman phenom Ben McLemore led the Jayhawks with 16 points, including 11 in the second half. This marked the third straight season that I’ve done a Kansas-Texas matchup and the road team has won all three (the first in Lawrence and the last two in Austin).

TIME LAPSE: LOW CORNER

Using the GoPro Hero 2, I shot from where CBS had a low camera in one of the corners. It’s the same corner only lower that I shot my first Frank Erwin Center time lapse on the same weekend a year ago for this game (click here to view that one). It’s the not greatest of angles for a wide shot as you can’t see a lot of the game action, but here it is.

UP NEXT: MARYLAND AT DUKE

This will be my first trip to cover a Duke home game when the Blue Devils host Maryland. I'll also be adding my 38th state capital (North Carolina).

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s my top shots from this weekend in Austin.

-- AndysPictures.com --

Travel/Photo Blog: Denver Double OT Divisional Game

2013-01-19T19:14:00.001-08:00

TRAVEL/PHOTO BLOG: DENVER DOUBLE OT DIVISIONAL GAME
By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com
January 9-13, 2013

Wow! What a game in the Mile High City. In my over 200 NFL games with CBS Sports, this was without a doubt one of the best if not the greatest. More on fourth longest game in NFL playoff history later.

The last time I was in Denver, Kyle Orton was the QB and rookie Tim Tebow scored his first NFL touchdown on a running play with the Broncos losing 24-20 to the New York Jets in October of 2010. Things have changed a lot since that game to say the least for the Broncos, Jets, Orton and Tebow.

Like last year’s divisional playoff game when I photographed various players from Baltimore and Houston in a studio setting, I was tasked with doing the same for this game. I arrived in Denver Wednesday night for a Thursday morning shoot with the Broncos.

BRONCOS PHOTO SHOOT

I photographed seven Broncos players: running back Knowshon Moreno, linebackers Von Miller & Wesley Woodyard, receivers Eric Decker & Demaryius Thomas and tightends Joel Dreessen & Jacob Tamme. Sadly, I was unable to get Peyton Manning and Champ Bailey because of scheduling conflicts.

This shoot was my first exclusively using my three speedlites instead of the constant lights mixed with my on-camera 580 EX flash. I dabbled with a mix of the constants and two flashes for the shoot with Temple last week. I must say that the look is just stunning with the stark white high-key background. In the past, I’d need to go into Photoshop and brighten the background to mimic the high-key look. This time, it was perfect straight from the camera.

XMAS LIGHTS STILL ON

After the shoot, I went back to the hotel to download the images. When it was close to sunset, I walked down to the City and County Building, which is directly across from the state capital. This horseshoe-shaped building is lit up with various colors for the holidays and at 6pm was treated to a light show. Here’s a video I took of the show. If I had known that the show was going to be like this I would have brought my 50mm f/1.4.

TIME LAPSE: CITY AND COUNTY BUILDING LIGHTS

After the light show, I took over a 100 shots of the building and compiled them into this time lapse.

RAVENS PHOTO SHOOT

CBS used my shots from last year’s divisional round with a mix of new shots. Last year, the background was black, so it was modified to “look” like a white background in Photoshop. Baltimore provided three players: QB Joe Flacco, defensive back Bernard Pollard and defensive lineman Paul Kruger. The Ravens arrived in Denver late Friday and the trio were still in their suits when I had them in front of my lens. Here's my best shot from the ravens shoot.

RAVENS 38, BRONCOS 35 (2 OT)

Denver returner Trindon Holliday recorded the greatest return game in league playoff history. He opened the game’s scoring on a 90-yard punt return for a score and added a 104-yard kickoff return for another touchdown to open the second half. Both rank as the longest in NFL playoff history as do his 248 combined return yards.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning threw three touchdowns, but turned it over three times that led to 17 points for the Ravens, including the 47-yard field goal by rookie kicker Justin Tucker in double overtime. Manning is 0-3 all-time in playoff overtime games and 0-4 in postseason games when the kickoff temperature was under 40 degrees (it was 13 degrees).

Baltimore QB Joe Flacco tossed three long touchdown strikes (59, 32 and 70) and a personal playoff-best 331 yards. He hit a wide-open Jacoby Jones for a 70-yard score with 31 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. The game was just the sixth game ever to go into double overtime and ranks as the fourth longest.

This was a rematch of the December 16 game in Baltimore that I covered with the Broncos winning 34-17. It also marks my fourth straight divisional playoff game that featured the Ravens. Baltimore lost the first two (at Indy and at Pittsburgh) and now have won its last two (vs. Houston and at Denver).

TIME LAPSE: IN THE TRUCK ABOVE MY VIEW

I’ve done numerous time lapses inside the TV trucks. So to mix it up, I placed it directly above me to give you an aerial view of what I do during the game. The new GoPro Hero 3 with the double battery allegedly has a five-hour life, but thus far in the two times I’ve used it, it’s not even close to five. This time, it lasted two hours and 55 minutes with a total of 1068 images (one every ten seconds).

I did another time lapse at the low 50-yard line where CBS has its video cameras. However, the below freezing conditions killed the five-hour double battery in two hours. It took 145 total images on a two full batteries (one every 30 seconds) and didn’t even last until kickoff.

TIME LAPSE: CORNER VIEW

I was a little scared to put the Canon 40D out in below freezing weather for so long. Unlike the crappy battery life of my two GoPros, the 40D lasted the entire game. It took 894 images (one every 26 seconds) for six hours and 43 minutes until I got it after the game.

UP NEXT: KANSAS AT TEXAS

Nearly a year to the day, I was in Austin for the Kansas-Texas game and will be back in the Lone Star capital for the same contest. I got some great shots of Austin last year and hope to add more this time. Click here to view my day and night Austin galleries.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s a selection of my best shots from this weekend in Denver.

Photo/Travel Blog: Two capitals, two shoots and a hoops game

2013-01-08T09:48:00.002-08:00

Photo/Travel Blog: I'll take two capitals, two shoots and a hoops game

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

January 4-6, 2013

Like every year, it's basketball time the NFL Wild Card weekend since my NFL crew is off this week. This year, I journeyed to Lawrence, Kansas for the Temple-Kansas men's basketball game. Unlike football, I don't take a lot of pregame shots since basketball players are in warmups and not in full pads like the football players.

JAYHAWKS PHOTO SHOOT

After landing in Kansas City, I drove the 40 miles to Lawrence to do a photo shoot with the starting five Jayhawks. This is my second time doing portraits of the Jayhawks. My first was at the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans. Kansas advanced to the title game, but lost to Kentucky. Three of the five were ones I got last season. One of the new faces is redshirt freshman guard Ben McLemore, who NBAdraft.net currently has projected as the #2 pick in the 2013 NBA draft. Here's my favorite shot of McLemore, who tallied 13 points and five rebounds against Temple.

OWLS PHOTO SHOOT

Temple arrived in Lawrence late Saturday afternoon and I photographed four of the star players and got a team huddle shot with the five starters. Here's my favorite shot from the shoot of Scootie Randall.

KANSAS 69, TEMPLE 62

Temple took a lead midway through the second half, but went cold quickly and hitting just one field goal in a span of 20 possessions that let Kansas come back for its 30th straight home win over a non-conference victory. Kansas center Jeff Withey blocked nine shots to go along with eight points and 11 boards.

In a losing effort, Temple guard Khalif Wyatt scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half.

TIME LAPSE: HIGH CORNER

I got a wide, mid-court time lapse last time I was here back in January of 2011. Click here to view. So this time, I set up my Canon 40D in the high corner up by the rafters. An image was taken every 25 seconds.

TIME LAPSE: SETTING UP MY LIGHTS

I arrived at the Jayhawks photo shoot about an hour earlier than normal and decided to use the GoPro Hero 3 to record me setting up the lights. It took me about 30 minutes, but I sped up the video to make it look like a time-lapse video.

BACK TO TOPEKA

After the Jayhawks photo shoot, I drove half an hour to Kansas' state capital to re-shoot Topeka. Last time I was here in 2010, the day was bland and there was construction on the capital's dome. Sadly, it was still under construction, but I was there right as the sun was setting during the "magic hour" and nabbed this shot of it. I like the reflection on the bottom from melted snow.

LINCOLN BECOMES #37

After snapping Nebraska's state capital building, it made 37 of the 50 U.S. state capitals that I've photographed. Check them all out by clicking here. I'm super stoked that at the end of the month when I do the Maryland-Duke game that I'll add both Carolinas.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE BIG BOARD

Here's a look at the map of the United States with the state capitals I've photographed in pink. I need just 13 to complete the map. I'm hoping that this summer, the wife and I will be driving around the northern midwest on a photo/food tour for a week around our anniversary. Would love to shoot Mount Rushmore on the Fourth of July! If so, we would hit Iowa, both Dakota's, Montana and Idaho. Also, we've decided to hit Nevada's capital, Carson City, sometime separately in the summer for a weekend and hit Tahoe - it's a three-hour drive from Walnut Creek. If that happens along with the additions of both Carolinas later this month, I'd be up to 45. Those last five are going to be very tough.

XM TO THE RESCUE

I don't know how I could've driven the six+ hour roundtrip from Lawrence to Lincoln without the Sirius/XM Radio. Musical highlights included: Weird Al's "Amish Paradise," Jim Croce's "I've Got a Name," Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and E-40's "U & Dat."

TWO STADIUMS WITH THE SAME NAME

I added the exteriors of the football stadiums for Kansas and Nebraska over the weekend. Each was locked and I'm sure the field was covered with snow. Both have the same name - Memorial Stadium. When you do a Google search for "memorial stadium," the one in Lawrence (built in 1921) comes up as the first item then the one in Lincoln (built in 1923). Both were dedicated for the residents of each state the died in World War I.

UP NEXT: AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF AT DENVER

I end my 2012 NFL season with a playoff tilt between the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos. Like last season, I will be doing photo shoots with both teams for the broadcast. This marks my fourth straight divisional playoff game with the Ravens: (2009 loss at Indy; 2010 loss at Pittsburgh; 2011 win vs Houston).

BEST OF THE BLOG
Here's a selection of my top shots from this weekend.

Photo/Travel Blog: Week 17 - Houston at Indianapolis

2013-01-05T09:50:00.002-08:00

Photo/Travel Blog: Week 17 - Houston at Indianapolis

By Andy Lopusnak, AndysPictures.com

December 29-30, 2012

My last game of 2012 took me to Indianapolis, Indiana for the first time since 2010 to cover the NFL regular finale between the AFC South champion Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts.

A blizzard hit Indy earlier this week that dumped more than 20 inches of snow. When I landed, it was white-out conditions and I couldn’t see more than a few hundred feet in front of me. It’s was a slushy mess with sleet-type snow off and on. Those are pretty terrible conditions to shoot. At night, it got better and I first nabbed a time lapse from my hotel room looking at the Indiana State Capital Building and the Indy skyline.

Since the last time I was in Indy in 2010, the JW Marriot hotel was completed and I wanted to get some shots of it from the other side of the White River near the Indianapolis Zoo.

It was below freezing but the sky had a purplish tone and I stayed out until about nine grabbing shots. One of my favorites was of the Indiana Word War Memorial.

COLTS 28, TEXANS 16

The Colts, which were a league-worst 2-14 last year, ended their improbable regular season with an upset over the would-be #1 seed in the AFC playoffs beating the Texans 28-16. Houston, which is now 0-11 all-time at Indianapolis, would have earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with the win is now the #3 seed and will host Cincinnati next week instead of having a bye.

This was my 30th overall Texans game covered for CBS, the most by any team. Houston is just 2-14 on the road in those contests (10-4 at home). For the Colts, this was my 23rd game and 11th at home. This also was the seventh time that I’ve done a Texans-Colts game (just the second in Indy though). It is the first game at Indy that I’ve covered that was without Peyton Manning under center.

TIME LAPSE: LOW CORNER (40D)

Back in 2010, I did two different time lapses of Lucas Oil Stadium. We can see them by clicking here (high end zone) and here (field level).

Using the Canon 40D, I set it up by the CBS “beauty” camera in the low corner. It took an image every 30 seconds fir the duration of the game for a total of 721 individual shots.

TIME LAPSE: SIDELINE (GOPRO HERO 3)

For Christmas, my wife got me the GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition and for its debut, I set it up at the 50-yardline with the back-up battery from the Hero 2. It lasted a little more than three hours of what should have been five. I went out this week and bought the version 2 battery pack so this shouldn't be a issue in the future. At an interval of every 30 seconds, it took a total of 371 images.

TIME LAPSE: TV PRODUCTION TRUCK (GOPRO HERO 2)

For a behind the scenes look at how CBS Sports broadcasts games, I set the GoPro Hero 2 behind the director showing his view of the multitude of monitors. Using just the one battery, the Hero 2 took 865 images using an interval of every 10 seconds totaling almost two and an half hours.

UP NEXT: TEMPLE AT KANSAS BASKETBALL

Next week, I head to Lawrence, Kansas for my second college basketball game of the 2012-13 season when Temple visits Kansas. This will be my third trip to Allen Fieldhouse.

BEST OF THE BLOG

Here’s my favorite shots from this past weekend in Indianapolis.