Classic cards deliver modern message

ENGLISH PHOTOGRAPHER John Hinde first published his famous postcards of Ireland back in 1956 when the country was mired in unemployment, emigration and despair.

Hinde was taken with the beauty of Ireland and wanted to depict an image of his adopted home in a way that would boost morale at home and attract foreign visitors.

Now, with unemployment, emigration and despair back, the company that bears his name is relaunching its postcards of Ireland to remind the world at large that there is more to this country than the political and economic crisis.

The company has copyrighted the name “Beautiful Ireland” to describe its relaunched postcards and calendar which will be unveiled at the Showcase 2011, Ireland’s Creative Expo, which starts in the RDS tomorrow. The original John Hinde postcards depicted an Ireland where the sky was always blue and the sun always shone. It was a world of turf cutting, long summer days, freckled-faced children, red-haired cailíns and ice cream, lots and lots of ice cream.

Hinde was a pioneer in enhancing colour in his photographs, so the skies were even bluer, every red was a bright red and the greens projected an image of a rural idyll.

The new postcards avail of new photographic technology but feature some of the enduring beauties of the Irish landscape including the Cliffs of Moher, Slea Head in Co Kerry and Derryclare Lough in Connemara.

The transformation of Dublin is reflected in the postcard for the revamped O’Connell Street where the Spire has replaced Nelson’s Pillar. There is also a postcard of the Convention Centre Dublin with the Samuel Beckett Bridge which Hinde hopes will be the flagship postcard for the image of modern Ireland.

John Hinde commercial director Cormac Leonard said the Beautiful Ireland theme was keeping with the philosophy of Hinde who first came to Ireland in the 1950s and stayed. “There are enough people knocking Ireland. We are very conscious of our responsibility in projecting Ireland in a modern way,” he said.