Taj Forer in Finite Foto

Chapel Hill photographer Taj Forer is interviewed in the current issue of Finite Foto, a New Mexico and Web-based "new media collective" which occasionally (and presumably collectively) manifests itself in interesting assemblages of photography and conversation. 

Taj works in the documentary tradition of photography. In fact, he was a Founding Editor of Daylight Magazine, the international biannual publication of contemporary documentary photography.  

In the Finite Focus interview, Taj is asked about his interest in alternative schools and communities, especially about his documentary project on the Waldorf/Steiner Communites and Schools, which includes the image shown above.  More of this work can be seen in his new book, Threefold Sun.

Taj also has some interesting things to say in the interview about photography, including his view that photographers "collaborators in the creation of images: who work with our subjects, the light, color, shadow, etc. every time we make a picture."

He goes on: "By recognizing that this process is one that affects far more than ourselves, I believe we work towards a more responsible approach to photographing and that our imagery might be added to the ever-growing historical fabric that portrays (documents) the aforementioned awakening of society."

Taj is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Art at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he got his MFA. He was also a 2007-2008 Artist-in-Residence at the North Carolina Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh. He was named one of PDN's 30 Outstanding Young Photographers in 2008.  
 
He has work in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA), The North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC), The Sir Elton John Collection (London, UK), The Mint Museum of Art (Charlotte, NC) and The Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, VA. 

Since moving South, he's also discovered an interest in posing people on banks of red clay, like Drew, here, seen in Hillsborough, NC. If nothing else, that definitely makes him a Southern Photographer to Watch Out For.