Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a movement, or transformation from modernism. Modernism is thought to be the 'project of rejecting tradition in favour of going "where no man has gone before"'[Keep et al (2000)]. In terms of art, photography replaced painting as an art form and became the 'postmodern art form par excellence' [Willette, J, (2012)]. At the time, photography seemed like a great idea. It was something new, and exciting for all. However, when looking at postmodernism photography today, it seems as if almost everything has been done. The world overflows with images, making it almost impossible to ever be creating a new image. Images nowadays are often takes and remakes of past images, taken maybe in a different angle or setting; lacking originality.
Cindy Sherman created a lot of work through post modernism. Setting up her trademark shots, it would seem as if she were recreating previous stills from films. People would relate them to films they had seen and compare the two. However, Shermans work was completely original, showing the difficulty in originality within post modernism.
In the 1970s, a Rephotographic Survey was carried out, in order to test the rephotographing of photography. A Rephotographic Survey usually consists of photographers, revisiting places in which images have been taken before in order to compare the two images. Despite carrying this out however, this one failed as it was discovered that the original photographer had manipulated the image slightly through cropping his images and angling his camera slightly. Photography in terms of postmodernism shows just how hard it is to be original today. As humans, almost any image we see is automatically recognized in relation to another, previous image.

References Keep et al (2000), Defining Post Modernism. Available at: http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0242.html [Accessed 13 May 2014]
Willette, J, (2012), Postmodernism in Photography. Available at: http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com/postmodernism-in-photography/ [Accessed, 13 May 2014]
Davis, S, (2010), Rephotographic Survey Projects. Available at: http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/rephotographic-survey-projects [Accessed, 13 May 2014]