In August 2005 I started a series of photographs of 4H participants at the poultry and rabbit barns of the Indiana State Fair. 

Since then I've expanded the collection to include people and their horses, sheep, cows, and whatever else will stand still long enough for a photo.  This summer I'll finish up the project with the collaboration of Gerald Waite, who will write about fair culture and what it says about us as participants and observers. 

The book will be published in the winter of 2008 by the Historical Society Press.  Here are a few of the images; more can be found on my website, www.haroldleemiller.com.

It's been a lot of fun making these images, as it has given me an opportunity to examine more closely what it is about fairs and rural America that I find fascinating.  Having lived so many years out of the country as a youth made American culture exotic to me -- even as I lived in the exotic subculture of American military families living on posts in Germany, Japan and various places in the U.S.

Whenever my family returned to the U.S. my sisters and I felt like we'd come to a foreign place ourselves.  America would have changed enough in the three years we'd been gone that it seemed all new to us again.  And since we were always "returning" to some place we'd never been before anyway, it was like we were visiting a faraway place, and we were.  We'd stay about a year, then move on.

When I turned 21 I returned to the U.S. and haven't lived outside it since.  I have had many years now to become adapted to America and I don't have the outsider's eye I used to have, except for this:  never having belonged to a community in the States, I still am curious about who Americans are, and still have a romantic view of the life of my parents and grandparents, who lived as farmers and people of rural small towns.  I've wondered what it would have been like for me to grow up in rural America.  I see myself in the faces of these people I've photographed at the fairs and have part of the answer.

                                                                   
                                                                      Linea Vincent

I love this one -- Linea reminds me of Joan of Arc!  I especially like how the wind is blowing her hair just enough, and her direct gaze at the viewer. 

Scarlet Rose 

 This girl was so cute -- her photo was included in a show I had in October 06 and she came to see it.  Her mother wrote a very nice note to me about how Scarlet Rose had been so pleased about being included in the show.  I was really glad she came to the exhibit.

 Ron Green

I like this image because it has some movement in it -- most of the others are rather statuesque. And what a chicken!

 Maria Haag

This one's a given -- love the crown!

 Tara Jones

Several people said they really like this picture of Tara and her rabbit -- they are so cute together!  One thing I can say is that this background of seamless paper is not as compelling as the background in the other images.  This was made on the first day, outside, and we hadn't established the style for this series yet.  The next thing we tried was a set of green doors at the entrance to the building, but I don't care for those images.  The doors were painted white on the other side, and when we shot against those doors, everything fell into place.