Consider the construction of a perspective drawing. The perspective is made by drawing lines between a point of origin and several focal points. A series of lines connect the focal points to one another. The culmination of lines drawn from origin to focal point and focal point to focal point describes a place. The perspective is a view, or window into this place. The relationship of these three elements - the origin, focal points, and view - is analogous to the development of a architectural project. The origin is a point of beginning. Each architect brings a set of experiences and ideas to the project. The project springs from the architects' knowledge and ideals. The focal points involve the design development of a project. They relate to the areas of study and discovery for the project. Some foci are specific to a site or program. Some foci further investigate design intentions and how they relate to a given program. The links between foci create a place. Each drawing or description of this place is a view into the project. This thesis outlines the origins, focal points and views of a design for a visitors' center located in southwestern Virginia. / Master of Architecture

This thesis discusses the use of aerial photography to construct a workable model capable of predicting the maximum carrying capacity of cattle on a given farm to a reasonably high degree of accuracy. The thesis then discusses how this model can be expanded to reach the goal of predicting actual carrying capacity, the value of farm production, or other such specific indicators of land use intensity. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

This study was an attempt to determine the use of photography as an aid in teaching and public relations in vocational agriculture in southwest Virginia. The fifty-six vocational agriculture departments in the southwest Virginia supervisory area were included in the study. The questionnaire technique of research was used in the investigation. Questionnaires were formulated and sent to each of the head teachers in the fifty-six vocational agriculture departments in Southwest Virginia. The response to the questionnaires was exceptional, 93 per cent being returned. The most significant findings of the study are summarized as follows: l. Eighty-four and six-tenths per cent of the vocational agriculture teachers in the Southwest Virginia supervisory area are using photography in teaching, in public relations, or in both. 2. More teachers use photography for public relations purposes than for teaching. 3. Of the forty-four teachers who used photography for their professional work, nearly two-thirds used it for both teaching and public relations purposes, while one-third used it for only one of these two purposes. 4. Kodak and Argus cameras were used more than any other makes. 5. The film size most commonly used was 35 mm. 6. The average number of photographs made for teaching purposes by the teachers included in this study was 53.7. 7. More photographs were made and used for teaching the enterprises, F.F.A., Farm Shop, and Beef cattle, than for teaching any other enterprises. 8. The average number of photographs made for public relations purposes was 28.9. 9. The photographs most commonly made and used for public relations were those classified under the All-Day and veteran’s Training phases of the vocational agriculture program. 10. Distribution of photographs to the group and individual illustration were the most common methods of using photographs in teaching. The method rated highest by the teachers, however, was that of slide projection. 11. Weekly newspapers and bulletin boards were the most common methods by which the teachers used photographs for public relations purposes. Bulletin boards was the method by which the largest number of photographs were used. Weekly newspapers was the method by which the second largest number of photographs was used in public relations;. Conclusions l. Photography definitely has a place in vocational agriculture in Southwest Virginia. The majority of the vocational agriculture teachers included in the study use photography in teaching, in public relations, or both. 2. The number of photographs made and used by the instructors for teaching was very small in view of the many teaching areas under which they might be appropriately used~ 3. There seems to be little justification for largely limiting the use of photographs in teaching to the three enterprises, F.F.A., Farm Shop, and Beef cattle. 4. Apparently there is a need for a critical study of the photographs needed in teaching the various enterprises of local importance and systematic planning for securing these photographs. 5. The number of photographs made and used by the teachers for public relations purposes was relatively limited in terms of the various phases and activities of the vocational agriculture program for which they should be used. 6. The use of photography for public relations purposes was largely confined to the All-Day and veterans' Training phases of the program. There is no apparent reason for this unequitable practice. 7. Projection techniques have not been adequately employed as methods for using the photographs which the teachers have secured for teaching. 8. The most common methods by which the teachers used photographs for public relations purposes were weekly newspapers and bulletin boards. Whether these methods were the most convenient or the most effective was undetermined in this investigation. 9. The results of this study indicate a need for a further study to determine the most effective means of using photographs in teaching and public relations. / Master of Science

The task of determining which of many available color-difference formulae is appropriate for any give application can be arduous. Researchers and practitioners alike are faced with the selection of one formula which best describes perceived color differences under conditions in which the equation is to be employed. The idea that one equation can be formulated which takes into consideration all factors affecting perceived color difference has yet to be realized, and perhaps never will. As a result, an “every man for himself” approach has developed. Yet, color-difference equations are continually being applied to conditions without empirical evidence to support their use. While the 1976 CIELAB Color Difference Equation has been applied for some time in the photographic industry, its use in describing the perceived magnitude of large color differences in photographic prints has not been validated. Furthermore, a good deal of research has suggested that the CIELAB equation is not applicable under numerous conditions of color-difference assessment. Nonetheless, the results of the study reported here support the use of CIELAB over four other formulae (CIELUV, CMC (1:1), Richter, and Yu’v’) for describing perceived color differences in photographic prints. CIELAB produced moderate correlations for both experienced and non-experienced color judges over the range of color space examined. The results of this work support the use of the 1976 CIELAB Color Difference Equation for describing the perceived magnitude of moderate and large color differences in photographic prints. / Master of Science

Eye movements are thought to be representative of an observer's attention. Researchers have used eye movements to gain insight to the mental processes of observers while they view pictorial stimuli. The present research was conducted to determine if subjective reports of attention are representative of eye movements, and if there are differences in the subjective reports between novice picture-takers and expert judges. Two studies were performed to answer these questions. The Image Evaluation study employed 24 subjects to examine 20 soft-copy photographic images. The 24 subjects were divided into four nested combinations: Protocol and Group. Two types of protocol were used, concurrent and retrospective, and two expertise groups were used, novice picture-takers and expert judges. The subjects viewed and rated the quality of each image. Subjective reports of attention were then collected by using a mouse to click on the features that influenced the quality rating. The second study, the Eye Tracker study, used six subjects, all novices, to examine and rate each image while eye movements were recorded, after which their subjective reports of attention were collected. Measures of time, frequency, location, and the quality rating were collected for each subject on all images. These measures were then subjected to parametric and nonparametric statistical tests. The two groups, expert and novice, displayed a difference only when rating the quality of the image. The two protocols were not statistically different for any dependent measure, although for this task a retrospective protocol is recommended. The subjective reports of attention did not represent the eye movements. Questions concerning the method employed to collect the reports are addressed. / Master of Science

Ph. D.

This project will address light use in a museum. The focus and the program will require give and take in order to provide sources of natural light without compromising conservation standards. The building will house exhibits of film and photography, including theatres, dark rooms, prints, and projections as well as all the necessary program to support the building including a cafeteria, restrooms, a gift shop, as well as indoor and outdoor gathering spaces. The building site is in DC. When choosing a site I consulted with the National Capital Planning Commission's urban plan of Washington. They have published on their website a study that has listed the city's potential monument and museum sites. When evaluating these sites I decided to use views to and from the sites, as well as acreage to dwindle down the options. / Master of Architecture

The work exhibited in Of Light and Shadow is fragmented. The fragments of the work will display an understanding of materiality, immateriality, fragility, temporality, scale, and preservation while seeking to fragment photography as a traditional medium. This work has become less about the image and more about the art object itself and how it exists in the space. I am interested in the connections between art and science where a museum, herbarium, or glasshouse acts as a juxtaposition between art and science. In Of Light and Shadow, the chosen materials question their own materiality. I am interested in the ephemerality of objects and the fragility of their existence. I use light and shadow as a dichotomy that connects the natural and artificial. With this duality and materials manufactured and handmade, I create environments that beckon the viewer to consider other dichotomies such as light and shadow, inside and outside, past and present, art and science, and private and public. They are the in between. Miniaturized fragments contrast larger than life fragments that challenge the viewers’ senses, perception of reality, and scale. This work seeks to fragment photography as a material and immaterial mode of traditional storytelling where it constantly battles the question of “will it disappear” and “if so, when?”

Hameline, Cassia Leigh. "Stay for the Heron: Essays." Doctor of Philosophy (English), May 2023, 146 pp., works cited, 27 titles. Stay for the Heron: Essays is an essay collection that explores truth, perception, and loss as it follows the writer's movement across landscapes that speak to a past she had, for so long, tried to run from. The essays in this collection seek to understand how we can write about difficult topics like abandonment, infidelity, and acts of self-destruction: do we get close to them? do we create distance? at what range are we able to relive the moments that caused us pain, or anger, or passion, or love and present them in written form for others to see? The collection challenges the narrative nonfiction form in preference for a more fluid, lyric, and hybrid genre that more accurately presents the material—at times fuzzy, difficult, confusing—at hand. Through its literary experimentations, such as fragmentation, lyricism, shifting points of view, and photography, the works here deconstruct what we consider "traditional" in the Essay genre and, instead, supports a shift towards a more contemporary tradition. The essays in Stay for the Heron explore the persona's geographical movement, paying close attention to the bodies of water she seeks out everywhere she goes, to find deeper meaning in the innate and earthly pulls we feel throughout life. From the sand-covered child watching her brother gut fish in awe, to the confused then sad then bitter teenager abandoned by her father, to the young woman whose lover's betrayals prompted her own self-destruction, and ultimately, to the woman who sought solitude for years before realizing she needed to come home; these essays interrogate perception, memory, and the concept that no one's truth is quite the same as another's. Despite their differences, though, there is space for them all.

Viviane Sassen is a Dutch fashion photographer, whose personal work feature people from African descent. Through the employment of the equatorial light, her models’ personal identities and faces are left in the shadow, their dark skin rendered “just” black, depicting the sitters invisible and without personal recognition. In this thesis I offer an alternative to reading her work whose praise always stay on the surface; I examine her work in relation to the historical and geographical location, offer an analysis to the ontology of the shadow in photography, and examine the treatment of the surface of Sassen’s models.