The All Weather Bike Commuter

John Brooking lives in Westbrook and works in South Portland, Maine, there is rarely a day that he does not ride his bicycle to work or use it to take care of life's errands. No matter what the weather John is out there, sun, rain or blowing snow and wind.  What ever the weather, he will tackle the day on two wheels and using his body as the engine. John is also an outspoken advocate and educator for better bicycling in our society.  John is also the founder of the Portland Bicycle Commuting Meetup Group, found here.  I have been wanting to photograph John for over a year now and lucky for both of us a window of free time in our scheduling had opened up.  As an added bonus a late season snowstorm had rolled into town and provided us with an ideal background to photograph in.  I love blue skies but I much prefer challenging weather conditions to create a dramatic portrait.  I choose the Libby Hill section of Portland because of it's urban gritty feeling and also because John was going to pass through it on his morning commute to work, keeping a genuine feel to the back story of the photo.