For a decade, Ohio-born photographer Anthony Blasko has been attending The Plant City Strawberry Festival in Florida, an eleven-day community event marking the annual strawberry harvest. In his upcoming work Florida Strawberries, he captures the beauty of spirit that still exists within this small pocket of the Sunshine State: revellers ride carousels, eat snow cones and children turn their hands to winning teddy bears. Shot predominantly at golden hour, just as the light turns a honeyed gold, Blasko’s idyllic style casts a nostalgic hue over his subjects.

The remaining presence of a strong sense of community fuelled his passion for documenting such a longstanding tradition; “Local fairs and carnivals have a long history in America. Even as we lose our connection to our agricultural past, there is something timeless about gathering at the fair.” Ahead of the book’s release, we asked Blasko to select five images from the series and share the stories behind them.

“This is the image that started the project. The year before most of the work in this book was created, I was working on another project in Florida and came across the festival. I spent only one afternoon shooting and then moved on, but as soon as I started printing I fell in love with the images from the festival, especially this one. The next year I spent nearly two weeks shooting, always focusing on the last three hours of the day.”

“I almost didn’t take this picture, at the time I thought it was too obvious. I’m glad I did, the colour and light are beautiful, and I love the texture of the plastic tarp.”

“This pairing was unintentional, but what I like about it is you can see the path I took. The girl with the cup is also in the image of the boy hanging onto the fence. It reminds me of looking at a contact sheet, where you can see the process of shooting. Often I work my way through a crowd like this, finding images along the way.”

“The first thing I thought of when I saw the strawberries and lemons on the ground was, “This is a lot like Paul Graham and Chris Anderson’s Cherries.” Personally, I love coming across a moment that echoes another.”

“Sometimes I take pictures of people waiting for the ride to start. Most of the time it doesn’t work – when people notice me they get self-conscious. But this girl looked at me without ever changing her expression or attitude.”

Florida Strawberries by Anthony Blasko will be published by Stanley/Barker in September, more info here.