McAfee LiveSafe

“Ask for a ‘Proof of Life,’ is my suggestion.” My wife is having lunch with our friend with a couple of Iraq tours under his belt when she receives a strangely chipper text from me in the middle of my photo session with man on the lam, John McAfee. What our friend is jokingly suggesting, a “Proof of Life,” is a document showing evidence that a person who has been abducted or kidnapped is indeed alive, such as a photograph of them holding the day’s newspaper.

Tech innovator John McAfee had gone rogue a number of years before and was now holed up in a fortress of a home in Lexington, Tennessee. McAfee fled Belize after the authorities arrested him for the suspected murder of his neighbor. I had assured my wife that I would check in once in a while during my Men’s Journal sitting with him so that she knew that I was alright, but then realized that if things got weird and McAfee became paranoid that I was giving out his location I wanted an electronic trail that was not going to get me into trouble. Hence, the cheerful text.

Funny enough as we got shooting, I couldn’t resist going darker and more intense with the pictures. There is something about having a camera in your hands that makes you feel invincible.

At one point, we were doing a setup against a blood red wall, with the light and color wrapping around onto McAfee’s face. After a few frames he came over and looked at the laptop screen, “Oh, this is very good. You’re the best photographer that I’ve shot with.” Oh, so he wants to look sinister.