BUTLINS POSTCARDS

From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, John Hinde worked on his most widely known production: the Butlin Holiday Camps postcards.

Billy Butlin had founded the camps as a place for working class people to go for holidays, complete with high excitement and low cost. Butlin hired Hinde to produce postcards that reflected the spirited and enjoyable environment found at his camps. By this time, Hinde worked more as an art director than an actual photographer, so he hired two German photographers, Elmar Ludwig and Edmund Nägele, and one British photographer, David Noble.

They travelled to the different camps and set up the necessary lights and photography equipment, often taking a whole day to make them just right. Hinde's pictures portrayed campers taking advantage of all of the things Butlin's had to offer, having a grand old time in the process. The photographers used large format cameras and Ektachrome film to capture the optimistic tone that Bultin was looking for.

Scenes from the postcards included people eating in lavishly decorated dining halls, large indoor swimming pools, themed bars, and amusement park rides. Actual campers were used in the shots, the sets were often added to in order to capture the energetic feeling of the setting.

Hinde would often enhance certain colours later on so that the end result would be a lively, idealistic view of a Butlin’s holiday. The combination of the images of a fun-filled family holiday and the vivacious colour produced a nostalgic portrait for the masses.

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The John Hinde Butlins Postcards