Amusement parks and carnivals offer rides like the Tilt-A-Whirl, food like funnel cake and hot dogs, and games like Whack-a-Mole or Milk Bottle. Drawing millions of visitors per year, fairs also provide an amazing opportunity for patient observers to people-watch. Documentary photographer Christopher Chadbourne has always had an interest in human behavior, something he explores in his latest book, STATE FAIR: The Last Living Munchkin From the Wizard of Oz and Other Stories, (Kehrer Verlag, June 2014). In a statement about the work, Chadbourne says state fair attendees “represent the spectrum of American diversity—in income, ethnicity, race, age, education and occupation. I photographed engulfed in the crowd—subject and context intertwined; to capture the exuberance, the motion, the color and the facial expressions that suggest stories buried within.” The book covers fairs in multiple states including New York, Minnesota, Texas, Arizona, Florida and California.

Before pursuing photography full-time, Chadbourne spent over twenty years at his Boston-based museum exhibition design firm, Christopher Chadbourne & Associates, working with top clients like the Smithsonian and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

The book is available in the United States and Europe. Signed copies are available by emailing Chadbourne directly: cchadbourne@ccadesign.com.