Martin Parr discovered John Hinde's postcards of Butlin's Holiday Camps in 1971, when he himself was working as a photographer at one of the resort-cum-entertainment centers. Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight includes 56 color pictures of the nine holiday camps, shot in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Says Parr, "Bringing these Butlin's images to a new audience is a mission."
The Postcard Empire of John Hinde Ltd.
The images in Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight exemplify the John Hinde style: rich, saturated colors, even lighting, and elaborate scenes meant to appear natural. But he didn't take the photos. Elmar Ludwig, Edmund Nägele F.R.P.S. and David Noble did. The three photographers all worked for John Hinde, and interviews with them that date from 1992 are included in the book.
The three photographers all mention John Hinde's perfectionist attitude. He wanted the most colorful, eye-catching images, which required complicated staging and lighting that took hours to set up before shooting. Ektachrome 4x5 film was used, a color transparency that photographers could develop in their own small studios. From there, Hinde sent the film to Italy for a high-quality color separation process.
The Butlin's Holiday Camps Phenomenon
Anyone who was in the U.K. in the '60s and '70s would know Butlin's Holiday camps. At the height of their success, thousands of visitors a day flocked to the centers. Once there, they were locked in for the length of their stay and fun was enforced. There were bars, playgrounds, billiard rooms, ballrooms, all gleefully and cheaply decorated in deep oranges and purple satins. In The Beachcomber Bar, lanterns and starfish dangle from the net on the ceiling.
At the time they were made, the photographs of Butlin's were destined to become postcards. They weren't considered art or social documentary, but rather advertisements. Yet today, these tableaux vivants with their brilliant, glossy colors seem like surrealist reportage. Despite the high production values Hinde insisted upon, Parr notes in his introduction that at a major exhibition of his work in 1993, the photographer seemed perplexed by the public interest in his postcard photography.
Martin Parr Inspired by John Hinde's Technical Prowess
In a farsighted move, Martin Parr began collecting John Hinde's postcards in 1971, when the Butlin's scene was in full swing. It was at the beginning of his own career as a photographer, and he has remained a fan and a champion of Hinde's work ever since. Parr notes in the introduction that John Hinde was a true innovator in the field of color photography, before working in color was considered an art form.
The color-drenched images in Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight are full page. Interior shots of packed dance floors, lounges with garish, swirling rugs, and outdoor amusement park scenes document the British Isles' Club Med and Disneyland all rolled up into one. It's an intriguing portrait of this playland and its working class-inhabitants-on-holiday.
John Hinde and Martin Parr, Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight: The John Hinde Butlin’s Photographs. Published by Chris Boot, 2003. ISBN: 0954281306. Price £24.95 / $39.95
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