Alex Box Stadium print a great addition to any office, den or man cave
Visitors to the new Alex Box Stadium are greeted with Championship Plaza, which contains markers for each of LSU’s five NCAA national championship titles.
Football isn’t the only sport for which LSU is known: Its baseball team holds five NCAA national championships since 1991, and it’s a regular contender for the SEC title. So it was fitting when the school built a new stadium to showcase the program.
Alex Box Stadium opened in 2009 to replace the old field facility by the same name in which the team had played since 1938. The state-of-the-art stadium fits the general architecture of the LSU campus, with its brick and stucco, but has some modern touches that nicely bridge the gap between the past and present.
And visitors walk through Gerry Lane Championship Plaza, which features large plaques for each national championship. The gates have large baseballs designed into the metalwork, and a sleek neon-and-metal sign declaring “Alex Box Stadium.” Once in the grandstands, the Skip Bertman Field opens up before spectators. The field is named for longtime coach Skip Bertman, who led the school to all national championships in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000. Bertman retired from coaching in 2001 and was named the LSU athletic director.
After capturing the image and pulling it into Lightroom and Perfect Effects (my two main processing programs), I struggled to find the correct approach. There was just so much going on, with the lines. It just seemed too cluttered.
On a whim I pulled the color out, and it almost instantly transformed a so-so image into a beautiful print. Of course, I’m a black-and-white junkie, so maybe that’s the reason I like it so much.
Please let me know what you think.
Once I finished up, I had the opportunity to do something else I enjoy: Look into history and learn more about the buildings I photograph. Although I’m an LSU alumnus, I never learned about the stadium namesake.
Simeon “Alex” Box, who lettered in baseball in 1942. Box was awarded a Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross in World War II. He was killed in the campaign of North Africa. The LSU Board of Supervisors in 1943 unanimously voted to name the baseball stadium in honor of the fallen Tiger.
“For the first time in the school’s history, the service and memory of the military hero came to be esteemed so highly that a structure on the campus was named in his honor,” a writer wrote in The Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper.