From Matthew Leifheit’s extensive interview with Brian Finke for Vice Magazine:
What’s a more exciting or suspenseful image than a hostile looking lady with a gun in the smoke-filled cabin of an airplane? I recently had a chat with Brian Finke about how he put all this together [his series of photographs of U.S. Marshals].
Vice: Do you think you are telling the truth about these people, or are they characters that represent an idea you’re trying to communicate?
Finke: When I chose to recreate something, it’s because it’s something I’ve seen happen before. I don’t ask anyone to do something they wouldn’t do anyhow, but sometimes it takes more time to capture the image I want. I always try to stay true to the subject.
A lot of what I’m interested in shooting is traditionally journalistic in terms of subject matter, but seen in a way that does not adhere to a traditional documentary style.
Since making this series, I’ve gotten a number of requests to do stories related to guns. “Wired Magazine” sent me on an assignment to go photograph John McAfee. Three days after I came back to NY, he went on the run when he was accused of killing his neighbor in Belize.
View Brian Finke’s series “U.S. Marshals”
Browse all of Brian Finke’s work at ClampArt