Bounty Hunter Photography

For her latest series, 'Bail Bond,' photographer Clara Vannucci creates a cohesive visual narrative around the clash of crime and surveillance. She set about photographing bondsmen, bounty hunters and defendants, intent on documenting how their stories interact.

The Italy-based photographer was intrigued by the practice, in part because there is no European equivalent. For those who are unfamiliar with the process, bondsmen offer most of a defendant's bail money, on the agreement that the defendant will show up to their court dates. In the event that this agreement is not honored, the bondsmen are obligated to hunt down the offender.

The daily life of a bondsman is filled with banal, bureaucratic necessities; however, at night, they often take part in stake-outs charged with adrenaline. Though sometimes a stake-out can mean merely sitting around in a parking lot, eating fast food and fiddling with the radio, Vannucci notes that, when they finally entered a building or home, it was a thrilling.