John Hinde Collection
John Hinde
John Hinde Collection
Hardback
21cm x 21cm
68 pages
53 colour images
£26.95
2018
From the artist:
This is the first time the restored original transparencies that were used to produce the world-famous John Hinde postcards have been printed in a book. Some have the corresponding postcard opposite to show how they differ, some are given the space they deserve as standalone photographs. In some cases, details were chosen to show the quality of the original photographs.
John Hinde, a photographer, innovator and entrepreneur, was a key figure in the development of the colour photograph as a postcard. Each photograph is innovative in its use of colour and stage-management. Shot with large format cameras, the production of these photographs was an extraordinary undertaking. Sometimes photographs could take a day and a half to get right. He used vibrant, highly saturated colours to depict a proverbially beautiful image produced to the highest standards. He was making an image for the man on the street not the photography critic.
The images represent and document Britain’s post-war leisure boom. John Hinde equated vibrant colours with happiness and thought his pictures should convey a positive, good feeling. He created these images to give tourists the colourful memories he thought they would want from their holidays - fifty years later the images do a similar thing for the generations that grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. The images are part of the fabric of memory. They provide fleeting glimpses of lost time.
These images now provide a valuable document of the leisure industry boom in post war Britain as well as the rise in modernism, hope and positivity. If it wasn’t for John Hinde and his photographers, there wouldn’t be colour photographic records of many of these cities, monuments, and seaside towns. The images have been used by lawyers and surveyors as the only existing reference, for example, for rebuilding a clock tower or getting planning permission to rebuild a crofter’s cottage.
This book of previously unpublished photographs shows how these images stand out in their own right as exquisite examples of photography of their time. They demonstrate the consummate skill of these pioneers of colour photography and help cement John Hinde's reputation as an important figure in the history of colour photography.
Please consider getting a copy of this publication by clicking here
Book review by Dana Stirling |
For this review I had to do some research and learn more about John Hinde and what stands behind the name. Although Hinde is a largely well known photographer, whose work many people know, I myself was not aware of his images prior to this book – sadly. This could be the fact that I was born and raised in Israel and perhaps his name has never crossed my path as a child, teen or adult – but here we are now.
In some way, maybe my lack of knowledge allowed me to enjoy his work in the book for the first time with fresh perspective and without the baggage of his ‘name’? Or maybe this is just an excuse to make me feel slightly better about my lack on knowledge?
Copyright John Hinde Collection / John Hinde Ltd
Copyright John Hinde Collection / John Hinde Ltd
John Hinde, a British photographer, is known mainly for his photos as they portrayed on millions of postcards around the world. This book finally shows the viewers the original photographs from Hinde’s studio that created some of the iconic postcards we know of. His photographic eye along side his technical and color alternations abilities, created captivating and vibrant postcards of holiday and travel that inspired people to visit these places. This book shows us more of the raw, unmanipulated images that stand behind these postcards, bringing them to a more ‘photographic’ reality. The book puts these images side by side to show how his postcards really did enhance reality and make these places in to a color explosion and into a bigger than life moment.
This book, in addition to having an important archival purpose, shows us a time period that was much different than today – his images are a true step back in time to see and learn about the culture that surrounded us at the time. For many this is their childhood memories and for others this is what childhood would look like in their minds as shaped by these types of postcards.
For many, when they see postcards, they see a hyper-realistic place, somewhere they should strive to be, visit, capture. These postcards are not just reality; they are the dream of what could be yours one day. The original photographs suddenly break that illusion; yet create a brand new experience. The originals allow us to appreciate the act of photography itself – the fine details that have been turn apart by the color manipulation and postcard prints, are now visible. The real colors and the pureness of the images allow us to enjoy these places for what they really are instead of what we think they should be.
Copyright John Hinde Collection / John Hinde Ltd
For me personally, I never believed postcards and always found them to be ‘cheesy’. I lived all my life in the hot dessert while hearing about my mother’s story of snowy British school mornings. For me, postcards represented what was far away and unreachable – therefor I never dreamt about them. So for me, this book allows me to go back to these postcards with a brand new point of view – they are real, they are just like any place around and they are definitely tangible. For me, these raw images create a real fantasy and a real desire to travel as I can truly see myself one day standing there with my own camera.
I think this book is an important publication for photographers to have in their collection. It can inspire you not only to create though out, beautiful compositions but think about how your images are shaping the world and documenting our current culture. Our images today, are tomorrow’s archive.
Please consider getting a copy of this publication by clicking here
Copyright John Hinde Collection / John Hinde Ltd
Copyright John Hinde Collection / John Hinde Ltd
