Postcard photographer.

John Hinde (1916-1997) was a pioneer English postcard photographer who perfected his craft when inexpensive color film and printing became possible in the 1950s.

His postcards, which sold for pennies, were readily shared mementoes of visits to English, Scottish and Irish vacation spots, having the merit of an ever present sun which was ever missing in Britain’s miserable climate.

While it’s tempting to dismiss these image as near-kitsch snapshots, on more careful examination they bespeak of a master technician who sweated his compositions after first waiting for the right weather. These images speak to a world which existed for a short time for very few, making them exercises in nostalgia well worth visiting.

His studio’s best known work was for Butlin’s Holiday Camps whose closest US equivalent is the Borscht Belt in up state New York of the 1950s – regimented entertainment for the masses:

Renoir’s ‘Luncheon of the Boating Party’ it is not, but rather a polyester modern day variant for those who need their entertainment designed for them, so lacking are they in imagination.