Photo of B-2 bomber flying over Rose Bowl 'a dream come true' for Traverse City man

It took months of preparation for one man to shoot the photo of a lifetime above the Rose Bowl where the Michigan Wolverines would prove victorious. But the effort was well worth the wait, said Tyler Leipprandt, 37, of Traverse City.

Leipprandt, the owner of Michigan Sky Media, calls the shot, which captures a B-2 stealth bomber flying over the stadium, "For the Roses." He said he took it hanging out of a helicopter about 4,000 feet above the ground.

"It's the perfect storm for me where Michigan's playing, there's a B-2 bomber flying over, and I'm a Michigan fan who has been taking pictures of Michigan games all year," Leipprandt said.

He said the helicopter pilot didn't have a view of the field, let alone the bomber, so he had to verbally direct him.

"They call it a stealth bomber for a reason — because it's stealthy. It's hard to see from the air. And I couldn't find the stealth bomber. I could see its shadow, but I couldn't find it and so I'm kind of panicking and at times I will just take pictures of a football field because I didn't know where it was, I didn't want to  miss it. And finally at the last second we picked it up."

ESPN shared Leipprandt's original photo on social media, and a video of how he captured the shot went viral, he said.

"I've been coordinating this for the last year," he said. "For this to work out now was a dream come true."