A couple of years ago, I wrote about how my husband has lived in Atlanta 20+ years and during that time there have been five (5) stadiums built for both the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves  Life in Black & White: “Another Stadium?”

Neither team has consistently been a champion, but the dedication of the true, die-hard fans has clearly helped sustain and evolve the teams to a new level of earning their own stadiums.  And, while opening season for the stadiums hasn’t been without controversy, both opened with elaborate fanfare this year.

Today, however, the city of Atlanta imploded the Georgia Dome which has been the Falcons’ home field for 25 years.  At the risk of being overly sentimental, I remember one of the first promotions I worked on at Coca-Cola was a sweepstakes for The Dome’s grand opening. The promotion was called “Roam The Dome” (I kid you not!).  Basically, the winners had the opportunity to see The Dome before it was open to the public.

The Georgia Dome next to the new Mercedes Benz stadium.  11/17/20

And so, like any true photographer I was up at the crack of dawn on a very cold Monday morning and headed downtown.   Ok, so maybe my husband had to coax me a little bit into doing it…..after all, this was my first day of vacation and I could have easily watched it on local television.

Approximately 7:15a.m. EST, 11/20/17 waiting for the implosion

I was debating on heading to higher ground in the warmth of the 15th floor of my      Coca-Cola office, but I wanted to make sure I caught all of the right shots and I didn’t know if I would be able to hear the implosion from inside.  I opted for the top of the parking deck………along with several other photographers and families!   I had hoped to have an unobstructed view, but this was the best available angle.

At just a little after  7:30a.m., with several helicopters and drones hovering high above, the implosion occurred and in a matter of seconds it was over…….just like that……..”out with the old, in with the new.”

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I stayed around for a few minutes to capture shots of the new stadium after the dust settled.  It looks a little bit like Darth Vader if you ask me!

Hopefully, this stadium will be around a lot longer than 25 years.