“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.