Sam I am

"A pair of portraits of Park School senior Sam O’Keefe who is billed by his peers as the next Lance Armstrong. He competes in cyclo-cross, which is a bike race that consists of many laps with varying terrains and obstacles. O’Keefe poses for a portrait at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge, Md., Monday, April 30, 2012."

Had the pleasure of photographing cyclo-cross racer Sam O’Keefe last month.

It was one of those assignments where I knew about it, had time to think about it, scheduled it myself, but when it was shoot time, I completely changed my game plan.

My instructions were to shoot vertical and leave some headroom, along with some other suggestions. But as mentioned, when I got to Rockburn Branch Park, I decided that some of my ideas weren't going to work. Not to mention, creativity is usually better when spontaneous.

I wanted to deliver a mix of portraits and action to my client and loved these two frames. Sam was very generous with his time and didn't mind riding by me time and time again.

Wish him the best in his cycling career and hope I can get out to shoot an actual race later this year.