In the mid to late 1970s, just before nightfall, James Welling took to the streets of Los Angeles with a wooden view camera. The result was a series of photographs that recorded the changing light on the exteriors of buildings in the beachside neighborhoods of Venice and Santa Monica. In Welling’s photographs, identifiable locations are secondary to his interest in the ability of light to define surface and spatial relationships. Although the photographer provides recognizable glimpses of corners, doors, windows, and stairways, his primary subject is how twilight and darkness determine the way these features are experienced. Welling’s study of the effects of light, an element at the heart of the medium of photography, has continued throughout his career as exemplified in the exploration of the texture of aluminum foil presented in the lower right corner of this grouping.