Photographic realism is an effective framework for communicating meaning. In other words, the purpose is to convey an idea--not, for example, to depict a landscape. Misuse of photographic images may arise from a photographer's deliberate attempt to imbue an image with the meaning he or she desires. Thus, we might question photography's objective nature, although this should not be confused with realism. The latter refers to the imitative or representational quality of the subject, the former refers to scientific validity or truth. The issue of objectivity suggests useful concepts for art education. First, this paper considers photographic realism--technique is not a primary concern. Second, procedures that can alter realism are made evident. By understanding and using these methods, a student can more successfully comprehend and alter the photographic message.

Just like reading a good novel, photographs can allow us to see things differently. I have seen photographs that I will never forget, and I have seen photographs that have helped me to open my mind. In a world that has such a narrow perception of beauty, I have been able to find beauty in many unexpected forms. Beauty, I have found can be found in nature, in the simple in the unusual, in the grotesque, and in the aged. This realization of unconventional beauty, coupled with my curiosity, is what brought me to the focus of my recent artwork: decay and death. This subject matter is universal, yet few people take the time to observe whatever truths may be had regarding the process.

The images included in my thesis work reflect my experience growing up with military propaganda—pictures of cheerful white women in pearls as part of my rural middle American landscape. I do not name the oppressor because I am not here to pick at the thorns, but to get to the root of the oppression. These are some of the servicewomen I’ve met. Their stories parallel but cannot encompass the private experiences of all service women. I am grateful for their generosity; without them there would be no pictures. The battle for equality is much older than Rosie the Riveter but we still ask the same questions we asked Joan of Arc in the 15th century: if she isn’t working miracles, what is she doing on the battlefield?

Thesis. 1977. M.Arch.A.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography : leaf 69. / M.Arch.A.S.

Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 229-234. / by Linda Benedict-Jones. / M.S.V.S.

Through an emphasis on the formal similarities in black and white photographs of human bodies and rocks, I attempt to shift my viewer’s existential conception of the “self” by communicating a pansychistic and ecofeminist message which inspires humility in one’s place in the world and justification for the necessity of compassion for nature.

This thesis is primarily concerned with the meanings that are produced when women become visible amongst the homeless through photographic representations. While there have always been homeless women, unlike their male counterparts, they have remained largely invisible to the public and government policy makers.Social documentary photography has acted as one of the main avenues through which homeless women have, literally, been rendered visible. Driven by, and implicated in complex sociocultural and political circumstances, socially concerned photographs draw on the real and the fictional to generate truth/power effects.Thus, the thesis re/traces the representation of homeless women in a range of visual texts and ask how this construct has been discursively produced and deployed. In order to explore how socially concerned photography has contributed to, and made use of the idea of homeless, or destitute woman, examples are drawn from a range of photographic genres. These include traditional social documentary, public collections of photographs, photojournalism and publicity materials.The selected images, the circumstances out of which they emerge, and those in which they are read, are interrogated along, and with the consideration of the interconnections between axes of gender, genre, race, class and power. The inquiry does not aim to establish a unitary source, or coherent trajectory of the visual representation of the homeless woman, because origins, particularly of ideas, are always contestable. Rather, a primary aim is to expand the field of possibilities for the visual portrayal of women's experiences of homelessness. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis represents the findings from a series of experimental investigations that explore young people's transition from socially constrained image making to innovative photographic practice within the art education context. It identifies the constraints young peoples' vernacular theories about what makes a good photograph, have on their own photographic origination. It draws on the work of Berti and Freeman (1997) and Karmiloff-Smith (1992) and accepts underlying descriptions of theory of mind development in young children (Wellman 1990). The data was collected from 117 adolescents (72 girls and 45 boys) aged between 10 and 17 years old, who were attending government primary and secondary schools in Sydney Australia between late 2001 and mid 2003. The schools were located in and around Sydney's eastern, western and south-western suburbs and ranged from the inner city to the semi-rural hinterland. The students represent a range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Participants' theories about photography and what makes 'good' and 'bad' photographs was ascertained by asking a series of structured questions at interview and analysing written responses to a questionnaire Five experimental situations produced 1344 photographs which were coded and analysed using ANOVA to establish between age-group and experimental task differences. The photographs were judged by expert photographers, for levels of innovation. Adolescents' explanations about the photographs they made were analysed for reflexive thinking. In order to map any shift in representational development throughout adolescence the data were divided into three age groups. 10-13 year old (n=40), 14-16 year olds (n=69) and 17 year olds(n=11). The study produced evidence that adolescents aged 10-13 years old had a na??ve theory of photography, and that 14-16 year olds had an emerging reflexive theory of photography, but they were constrained by both procedural understandings and social conventions of photography. Expert 17 year olds and adults have a reflexive theory of photography as evidenced by higher percentage of innovative images and more reflexive statements about their photographs. The findings provide baseline understandings of the cognitive processes implicit in photograph origination by adolescents and suggests implications for further research into the teaching and learning of photography as a creative medium in the Secondary School Visual Arts classroom.

Thesis (MA--Art and Design) -- AUT University, 2005. / Main title from cover. Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (90 leaves : col. ill. ; 21 x 30 cm.) in City Campus Collection (T 778.96 MEI)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Art History, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.