I started photographing the NC State Fair when I was 20, in 1973. I used an old 6cm x 6cm Hasselblad, and I kept the camera at waist level, and when I had finished composing the shot I looked up and engaged the subject, sometimes just with my eyes, sometimes by talking with them...

Without breaking eye contact, when the moment was right, I pressed the shutter. I loved shooting this way, as there was a kind of constant dialog.

As a child, going to the fair was an escape from my parents! As soon as we got there, I disappeared into the world of carnies, hawkers, and circus "geeks...

I was fascinated by the food vendors and "hoochi coochie" parlors, which I was too young to enter, but I could lift the heavy canvas at the side of the tents, and see all the grown men in hats, and smoking cigars watching something mysterious, and obviously sexually charged, on the distant stage. I could never get more than a glimpse of that stage, but I guess the fleeting nature of the experience made a huge impression on me, as finding and capturing a fleeting moment still defines my work!