The Government Confiscated My Roll of Film

This is my favorite story I have. The time men in dark suits confiscated my film.

I have done every job in photography a person can do. Northern Virginia Sun. Washington Post. Ritz Camera. CPI Photo Finish. Portraits, weddings, real estate, stock, darkrooms. All of it.

So I am at the newspaper when we get a call about police activity at Riverplace, the condo complex on the Potomac where Larry King lived. A man accused of selling secrets to the Libyans had killed himself, and I just followed the cops and the dark suits through a garage door. No yellow tape. I did not know I had crossed a police line.

Canon A1, flash on top. There is a man in a chair in the corner, and I start snapping away, because that was the job. The flash gave me away.

A gentleman came over and said, “I’ll need your camera.” I asked if I could just give him the film instead. He popped the camera open, pulled my film out, stretched it into the light, and tossed it on the ground.

Was it the Secret Service? No idea. I was scared, it was a dark garage, and there was a dead man right over there. That is my best story. Creepy, but mine.