Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Corner View - Holiday Pics - Butlin's



Hello to the Corner Viewers!  Since a large proportion of this blog already consists of a fair amount of my vacation pics, (enough already, right!?) and because this week's theme was chosen by our itinerant Brit, Ian, at An Englishman Abroad, I thought I would share somebody else's idea of vacation pics.


These come from a book called "Our True Intent is All for Your Delight" (2002) and it is a book


of photographs taken at a number of England's Butlin's Holiday camps* in the 1960's and 1970's 


by the Irish photography studio, John Hinde.  Mr. Hinde (a descendant of the original "Clark" of Clark's Shoes), later handed over actual photographic responsibilities to the following:


Elmar Ludwig, Edmund Nagele and David Noble.  The studio produced these highly saturated


picture postcards that inspired a young Martin Parr, now a


very well-known English photographer specializing in similarly highly saturated and almost hyper-real 


photographs of English people enjoying their leisure activities.  (As here, in the company of the Queen's swans.  Did you know that every swan in England has been declared to be her property?  Now you do.)


Butlin's is still in operation as you'll see if you click the link above, but does not remotely any longer resemble these pictures, sadly.  And most Brits just hop on a plane to Spain or Italy these days.

I keep hoping someone will open a vast cocktail bar in Honolulu or Los Angeles that looks like these pictures.  (I would settle for San Francisco.)  How fun would that be? Meanwhile the book, with an introduction by Martin Parr, who declares himself on a "mission" to share these photos with the world, is still available on Amazon UK and elsewhere. Just google: "Our True Intent is All for Your Delight".  The publisher is Chris Boot Ltd.,  photography publishers in England.

Cheers!

*  Holiday Camps were more like resorts with little cabins and large shared recreation facilities.  You would see reference to them in movies like The Who's Tommy and in the English (shown on PBS in the U.S.) comedy show, Hi-De-Hi 







17 comments:

  1. How fantastic! THe only place we ever went on vacation as a family (8 of us) was to web-filled little cabins by the beach in Rhode Island....when I say web I ain't talking tech! Fun but not fantastic!

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  2. What a great find! I am delighted by these intentions.

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  3. Haha, I love these pictures, though I wouldn't want to have a holiday like this! But as the huge 60s-Fan I am I just adore the colours, the clothes and the haircuts!!

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  4. Yes, the queen and her guests are the only people in England allowed to eat swans, and they do (but probably not when they're at Butlin's).

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  5. I adore the colors. Was Butlin's all about leisure, or was it their intention to uplift the working class people as well?

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  6. Great find and great post.
    PS nice to know about the swans :)

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  7. I am going to a Butlins in December!! There is a music festival that is held in these old holiday camps that I am going to. You are right it won't be like that any more :)

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  8. What a great book! I will have to look for it! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. that was fabulous! that one with the scuba diver just kills me. so great. thanks for sharing.

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  10. C'est une excellente idée, qui fait un peu machine àà voyager dans le temps ! Et donc, est vraiment très "vacation" ;)
    Une belle journée pour toi

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  11. Love those photos, and the concept of family super organized holidays...is so "horrible" for me...But they are so kitch that are like surreal. Love it

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  12. This is great. I've never been to a Butlins, but had a couple of family holidays at Pontins (the same kind of thing) many many years ago. Butlins used to be soooo popular back in the day, there was even a tv programe Hi De Hi made about holiday camps. A really great CV.

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  13. what a truely original take on a theme well worn... i was just about to say, i LOVE the sixties feel to your pic's. and hey! they are originals! i've loved the splendid trip, you know!

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  14. oh, should they open such a place, can you please let me know? :)

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