Fun Slide, cross-process photograph, 2013 Credit: Lonny Kalfus

Hillsdale resident Lonny Kalfus has spent the past several years photographing the Dutchess and Columbia County fairs. (Fun Slide was taken at the Columbia County Fair, which is held every year in late summer in Chatham.) As Fun Slide attests, Kalfus is drawn to stranger emotional corners of the county festivals, where kitsch and Americana and melancholy meet. “I find the [fair] atmosphere both bizarre and intriguing,” says Kalfus. “The range of emotions on display runs the length of the emotional spectrum. I like to explore the dark side of things.” Kalfus’s work appears in the group show “Awakenings” at Spencertown Academy through July 18. Portfolio: Kalfus-studios.com.

Brian is the editorial director for the Chronogram Media family of publications. He lives in Kingston with his partner Lee Anne and the rapscallion mutt Clancy.

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