Article.

In this week’s issue of the magazine, David Owen writes about his culinary experience aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, a luxury cruise liner that, he writes, “feels less like a nautical object than like a shopping-mall food court with swimming pools on the roof.” Brian Finke took the photographs that accompany the piece on a sister ship, Allure of the Seas, while it was anchored in Ft. Lauderdale. Both ships accommodate about six thousand passengers, and a typical weeklong Oasis cruise goes through about a metric ton of lobster. Much to Owen’s surprise, almost all the food—from pizza to lemon-scented pea soup—is made on the ship from fresh ingredients.

The FBI may get all the love (and movies), but the US Marshals Service is America’s oldest federal law enforcement agency. Brian Finke spent nearly four years embedded with the marshals, chronicling their daily lives with intimate, revealing images that peer into an often dangerous world.

“I felt like it was my own version of the TV show COPS,” Finke says.

Personal Connection

Finke (who photographed John McAfee for WIRED) likes to choose a subculture—bodybuilders, flight attendants, cheerleaders—and immerse himself in it. He decided to photograph US Marshals after re-connecting with Cameron Welch, a high school buddy who’s now a marshal in Houston. Welch put Finke in touch with the brass in DC, who gave him unprecedented access.

The Marshals Service, created in 1798, is charged with things like apprehending fugitives, transporting and housing prisoners and protecting witnesses and federal judges. It didn’t take long for Finke to find himself in the middle of things. His first ride-along included a 120-mph pursuit of an escaped convict in Huntsville, Texas. Not too much later, he was in Las Vegas, where he joined marshals as they rounded up sex offenders and saw a young man overdose on heroin after swallowing his stash.

Bright Flashes of Light

To make his saturated, brightly lit photos which are now featured in a new book, Finke used two Quantum Qflashes and a Nikon D800 camera. He held one of the flashes and an assistant held the other. You might think it intrusive, or at least awkward, to have flashes firing as marshals chase criminals, but Finke said everyone was OK with it and was happy to have him along instead of an entire TV crew.

Finding photos to make was easy, especially when the marshals were in full garb with guns pulled. Over time, though, Finke says such photos grew olde, even cliché. “When I started doing this project everyone felt like a hero and my images felt too much like propaganda photos,” he says.

Looking Beyond the Obvious

To tell a more diverse story, Finke sought unexpected or humorous moments, or things that conveyed the personality of the people he was following. A photo of a marshal in a purple shirt and bow tie, for example, that seems out of place. But Finke says the officer is based in Los Angles, where the office celebrates bowtie Mondays. Then there’s the slightly weird photo of a marshal holding a remote control car. Finke says the car was part of disguise he used while surveilling the door of someone suspected of human trafficking.

“In the end it was important for them to also look like normal people,” he says.

Although he was close behind the marshal as they did their work and often found himself wearing body armor, Finke says he never felt he was in danger. He saw things that shocked him, but never had to duck and cover as bullets flew. That’s because when the marshals go after someone, he says, they try to catch them by surprise or use such overwhelming force the person has little ability or incentive to resist.

“It was all about them being really good at what they do,” he says.

Article: US-Marshals: Die Handschellen der Nation

Brian Finke

Marshals sind in den USA so etwas wie die Dienstleister der Justiz: Sie vollstrecken Haftbefehle, schützen Richter und transportieren Gefangene. Der Fotograf Brian Finke hat sie über mehrere Jahre bei ihrer Arbeit begleitet. 

Article

Photo Essay: In the U.S. Marshals Series, There Is No Hunting Like The Hunting Of Man

Photographer Brian Finke shoots the U.S. Marshals

by Emily Assiran

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”

Armed and dangerous men and women serve as prey for the U.S. Marshals Service, and Brian Finke was given intimate access to document the training and thrills of life as a U.S. Marshal. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there are over 6,500 fugitives on the run, and the men and women of the U.S. Marshals service are tasked with breaking down doors, jumping fences and doing is whatever necessary to bring them in. We spoke with Finke and Deputy U.S. Marshal Cameron Welch about the series, captured in a new book, and what it means to chase a fugitive.

Interview with Brian Finke:

Were there rules and restrictions placed on you during ride alongs? Were there some things you could or could not do, and how did that affect your work? I needed to keep the perp’s identity anonymous, which worked fine because I wanted to keep the attention on the Marshals, and their activity.

Many of your photographs are highly stylized with light and shadow, almost giving them a staged look. Is this something you were going for, and what was the message you were trying to give by doing that? It’s an intentional decision, my assistant and I run around using hand held strobes to mix the artificial lighting with the natural light to create a tension in the photographs of not knowing where something is real or not, I like the curiosity that it builds in a photograph.

From the perspective of an outsider, can you describe the culture among the U.S. Marshals? Normal, everyday men and women going to work and working really hard at what they do, complete respect.

Hunting wanted fugitives doesn’t necessarily come off as a woman’s job yet you can find women dotted throughout the series. Did you see anything interesting in the ways the women were treated by the men they worked with or the one’s they hunted? I saw no distinction between gender, everyone is there to get the job done.

Were you ever afraid, and can you tell us of a time that you were most afraid? I witnessed sex-offender round-ups in Las Vegas, con air prison extradition from Cuba, intense Texas/ Mexico border activity, like in the Wild West. But I never felt my life was in any danger. Maybe I was a bit naïve in some situations, but the Marshals are all about overwhelming force when going to serve the warrants. It’s amazing watching them do their thing.

Interview with Deputy U.S. Marshal Cameron Welch

How long have you been a U.S. Marshal and can you give a brief description of the job? I have been a US Marshal for approximately 12 years (5/03). I am currently assigned to the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders and Fugitive Task Force in Houston, Texas tracking violent fugitives. The mission of the USMS is pretty broad compared to our other DOJ components. We are the oldest Federal law enforcement agency in the country established by George Washington under the First Judiciary Act of 1789. Such responsibilities consist of Judicial Security, Witness Protection, Fugitive Investigations and Prisoner Transportation.

You knew Brian from high school, did that change what you showed him? Did you feel as if you were able to show him more or less of what you really do? No, but he did get to see more! For years on multiple occasions I have been afforded the opportunity to have local and national media ride along with me during fugitive investigations. During those ride alongs their story was strictly limited to fugitive cases. In regards to Brian’s project, we wanted to facilitate a much broader aspect of what we do in order to depict what the USMS does on a daily basis. I feel that during this project Brian’s exposure to our job was definitely from the front lines and as accurate as you can get.

Many of the photographs seem to come from training, how important is training for you as a U.S. Marshal and how often do you do it? Training is an essential part of our work. We live by our training as it is one of the things that keeps us safe. We continually strive to train multiple times a month with USMS personnel and other law enforcement components.

What are some of the things you do to get ready and head out to hunt fugitives? I like to think about the situation at hand in its entirety. What the subject is wanted for, their criminal history, their abilities, training and background. Basically to get in the mind of a criminal….. and then go out and find him!

Take a look at Brian Finke’s U.S. Marshals book here to check out the rest.

Amazon pre-order

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

powerHouse Books is pleased to announce the November 2014 release of

U.S. Marshals

By Brian Finke

Forward by Edith Zimmerman | Designed by Robert Festino

U.S. Marshals, the much-anticipated fourth monograph from American photographer, Brian Finke, will be released this November on powerHouse Books. Shot over the course of 4 years, with Marshals, Finke captures the culture, practices and procedures of the United States’ oldest law enforcement agency, heightened by access that is both unprecedented and telling. Finke began documenting U.S. Marshals in 2010 after re-connecting with a childhood friend, Deputy U.S. Marshal, Cameron Welch:

“I was surprised at their willingness to have me step inside their world, but once there what I saw was a well-oiled machine — one that speaks to an American heritage of civil authority that has transcended nearly all facets of U.S. law enforcement­­­. I felt a strong connection between Marshals’ responsibilities and our civilian culture. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a book.”

Finke photographed U.S. Marshals in cities across the U.S. including Houston, Las Vegas, New York City, Syracuse, Utica, Philadelphia, Camdon, Atlantic City, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and a handful of Texas border towns, including Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, Del Rio, Alpine, El Paso. The resulting images present a ground zero portrait of the most dangerous, conflict-seeking patrol force in the U.S.

“As you might imagine, their worlds are action packed,” added Finke. “My very first ride-along was a bulletproof vest clad pursuit of an escaped convict from Huntsville prison, clocking 120 MPH.”

Digital advances and high-resolution images are available by request; scanning from the book or lifting images from the mechanical file are strictly prohibited. Mandatory credit line: From U.S. Marshals by Brian Finke, published by powerHouse Books.

About the US Marshal Service:

The U.S. Marshals Service is the longest standing law enforcement agency in the United States. As the enforcement arm of the federal courts, marshals are tasked with protecting judges, prosecutors, and witnesses, and are also responsible for transporting prisoners and tracking down the country's most dangerous fugitives. Over the years, the ranks of this pillar of American law enforcement have included the likes of Frederick Douglass, Wyatt Earp, and Wild Bill Hickok, and they have been involved in diverse missions raging from tracking down train robbers in the Wild West, to protecting African American school children segregating the south in the Civil Rights Era, from enforcing all U.S. laws in Antarctica to seizing and auctioning off fraudster Bernie Madoff's property.

Brian Finke graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1998 with a BFA in photography. Since that time, he has had incredible success as an artist, with work placed in nine museum collections here and abroad. The author of 2-4-6-8: American Cheerleaders and Football Players (Umbrage, 2003), Flight Attendants (powerHouse, 2008), and Construction (DECODE, 2012), his first monograph was named one of the best photography books of 2004 by American Photo. His editorial clients include: Bon Appétit, Conde Nast Portfolio, Details, Discover, ESPN the Magazine, Esquire, Fast Company, Fortune, Good Magazine, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Life, Martha Stewart, Newsweek, New York magazine, The New Yorker, Photo District News, Rolling Stone, Spin, Teen Vogue, Time, Wired, and many others. Brian has commercial representation in the U.S. and France, and is represented by galleries in New York City, Paris, and Amsterdam.

Edith Zimmerman is the founding editor of The Hairpin. She's a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, and her work has appeared in GQ, Elle, and New York Magazine, and on This American Life.

Photojournalism / Law Enforcement / Jackboot Thug Theory

Hardcover, 10.25 x 10.24 inches, 128 pages

ISBN: 978-1-57687-711-1, $35.00