Aperture and the Parsons Department of Photography at The New School presented this artist talk with photographer James Welling in October of 2009. Focusing on reoccurring themes of abstraction and the paradoxical in images he has made throughout his career, Welling went into detail about the progression of his work as a photographer and some of the artists who have influenced and inspired him.

In this excerpt Welling talks about how his body of work Light Sources came to fruition, essentially through his interest in the 10th frame of rolls of film he had shot for various projects over the years. Shooting in his preferred 6×7 format, Welling found that the 10th frame would not fit on the standard contact sheet page and thus, upon reaching his 10th exposure Welling would habitually break from his subject and shoot something else. Working with a large group of these “context-less” 10th frames, Welling compiled Light Sources.

To watch the full version of this talk click on these links below:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

James Welling is represented by David Zwirner Gallery in New York and is head of the photography department at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work was featured in issue number 190 of Aperture magazine.

The first of the Spring 2010 Parsons Lecture Series at Aperture is titled Photography After Photography, 15 Years Later with Hubertus von Amelunxen on Thursday, February 25, 6:30 pm.