Yea, I know. The helmet makes me look like an idiot.

Today, I shot two of the participants in the Boston Marathon for the Discovery channel. I got to ride on a full electric motorcycle for half the race. I sat on the back and a guy named Dana took me down the streets of Massachusetts as we headed to the finish line in Boston.

I hung off the back with a Sony HVR-Z1U camcorder covering Lynn and Jamie Parks as they put the miles behind them.

Lynn and Jamie have a very unique and inspiring story.

Lynn was in a car accident a decade ago and this tragic event occurred just after Jamie asked Lynn to be his wife. The accident took almost everything from Lynn but Jamie stayed by her side.

They have been a team ever since and do everything together despite Lynn’s disabilities.

Discovery Health wanted to make a documentary called “Marathon Love” and hired me to be one of the shooters. It will be finished in June 2008.

The pictures above show the electric motorcycle. This was the first marathon these state of the art bikes were used on.

I must say, these bikes were great. Super smooth and very quiet. I was able to hang off the back and get awesome shots of Lynn and Jamie as they moved through the course.

The electric bike was so quiet, that I was able to get up next to Jamie as he pushed his wife in the wheelchair and ask them both questions! I got some great sound from the two of them as they pushed themselves to the limits in the Boston Marathon.

A friend of mine, Eric, was one of the other film crews on the project. Eric and I were fitted with Z1U’s with wide angle lenses and our own audio kits. We both wore vests that held wireless receivers, lens wipes, cell phones and two-way radios.

This was my point of view off the electric motorcycle. You can see the Z1U in the bottom left of the frame. My shotgun was all I needed to get up close and get sound bites from Lynn and Jamie as they moved down the suburban streets of Ashland Massachusetts. This was around mile marker 4. The race was 26.2 miles long!

The was a self portrait shot when we reached our designated pull off. That helmet was not very comfortable, but at least it protected my mellon. At this point, I left Dana and his electric bike and headed to a parked vehicle. I met up with my Production Assistant and we drove to the finish line.

I did not take any other pictures because I got too busy to do so! Let me just say, the traffic was miserable and I slept through most of it. I had just came off working a double the night before, early Red Sox and then Game 1 of the Celtics NBA finals. I was functioning on two hours of sleep.

When we got to the finish line, I just had to get one other shot. Jamie and Lynn’s daughter was going to join them for the last mile of the race. It was a great moment. I got the money shot and the field producers were very happy. The documentary should be good and I look forward to seeing it on the Discovery Health channel later this summer.