My wifes modeling career

[jdviole2]

Thank you for the compliments on my photography. I'm not a professional. Just a practicing amateur. I do shoot with decent camera gear. (I'm not fond of cell phone photos). The model really makes the difference. The real trick with portraits, at least for me, is to shoot a lot of pictures. That way you get to select the best and put the others away out of sight. Makes you seem better than you are. I have four pictures for you today. The figurine is some of Helena's work. She painted ceramic figures for her primary hobby. (She also quilted and, as I think I mentioned, was a very good photographer herself). The ceramic figure is about 9 inches tall with about a 3/4 inch tall face. Pretty precise work. The outside shot of her climbing the steps was taken in 1976. We were going somewhere and she had gotten dressed up. She much preferred to wear jeans and a simple t shirt. The shot of her on the spiral staircase was taken at Disneyland in California in 1978. The last is another of the wedding dress shots. We took a lot of different ones and used one of them in the newspaper for the wedding announcement. I've been remembering a lot in the last month and thought of two stories about Helena you might enjoy. Both involve some sort of public nudity. One of her choice and one definitely not of her choice. No photos to go with them though, so bring your imaginations along. She has told these stories to our friends before so I know she wouldn't mind my sharing them with you. Those will come tomorrow and/or the day after.

[jdviole2]

I promised a story involving Helena and public nudity so here goes. This occurred before she did any posing for me so she was still very worried about being seen nude. Now there are lots of reasons to get married. For Helena and I one of the main reasons was to have someone to play with, to have fun with. My dad was a jokster, always kidding around. Lots of practical jokes in our family. Helena's family didn't do much of that kind of thing if any. Anyway that is how she ended up nude in public. For the first few months after I returned from the Navy we lived with her mom and dad. It was an older neighborhood, houses close together. So, newlyweds, small house and the parents. Not a lot of opportunity for playing any "adult" games. Then they took a two week vacation. It was heaven. One afternoon we were planning to go out for dinner. Helena had just gotten out of the shower and was joking around with me about something. I told her to quit. She said, "or what". I told her if she didn't quit I was going to set her out on the front porch, naked. Then she said something really stupid. She said, "you wouldn't dare". Well, before the word dare had even faded away I opened the front door, picked her up and set her outside, yanked off her towel and closed and locked the door. So its the middle of the afternoon, in a crowded neighborhood. She doesn't dare scream, yell or even really pound on the door. So she politely knocks, and knocks, and knocks. I gave her about 30 seconds of "exposure" and then let her back in. She didn't say anything. I don't know if she didn't know what to say, or was afraid of what she might say. We never did find out if she had been seen by anyone. I do know she proved her love for me that day by not immediately asking for a divorce. For my part I proved mine by never doing anything like that again. I also know that she never said "you wouldn't dare", to me again. The things you do while you are "learning" to be a couple. When she would tell this story to friends later she usually had her arm around me and the story always ended with a kiss. So I guess that was a successfully learned lesson. The first photo today was taken in 1974. We were visiting the ruined city of Pompeii. We are in the "house of the faun". I'm guessing that there are thousands of pictures around the world just like this one. Well this one is mine. The second photo was taken during one of the "nude" shoots. She usually started out wearing different clothes. This was in 1974. The last photo is from 1973. It is the first picture I ever took of her. Sorry about the backlighting. I just grabbed a quick shot. This is how she looked the day I first met her. This is the girl I fell for, all the way. I have another "public nude" story, maybe for tomorrow.

[jdviole2]

The second public nudity story really wasn't full nudity. By the time this story takes place she had already posed nude for me. That might have had something to do with what happened. We were going to lots of rock concerts those days. For some of those "adult games" I mentioned yesterday Helena had bought a red sheer top. I mean you could read a newspaper through that material. She got the idea to wear that top to a concert but was worried that it might be a little too sheer. (Fun is fun but a police record is no joke). She and her mom sewed a liner inside the top. It was a layer of white material that was almost as transparent as the red top itself. The combination was thin enough to let her nipples "poke" out and sheer enough that if the light was right and she was positioned right you could clearly see her breasts like she was wearing nothing at all. If she moved, or the light shifted you weren't sure anymore what you saw. The concert was great. (From so long ago I don't remember who we went to hear). For both of us though, the best part of the show was the people sitting directly in front of us. I am not sure how much of the concert the men (and women, I'm proud to say) sitting in the 5 or 6 rows in front of us got to see. They spent a lot of the time turning around trying to figure out if they were seeing her boobs or not. We watched the show and didn't let them know we were aware of what they were doing. After we got home we laughed and laughed about the reaction she got. I had to admit to her that she was right to have the liner sewed in. It made it twice as sexy. She never admitted it but I think it excited her a little to be stared at like that. A few animal photos today and a portrait. Helena was a cat person when we met. The first picture is a shot of her with our first cat Scamper. It was taken sometime around 1989. While she was a cat person, I was a dog man. Living with me she grew to love dogs as well. The second picture is her with our friends dog taken in about 1995 while we were hiking in the Rocky Mountains. Her love of animals wasn't limited to cats and dogs either. The third picture is Helena discussing some important matters with someone she met, again in the Rocky Mountains. Probably taken sometime between 1991 and 1997. The last picture is an "artsy" type of portrait. She asked for this one herself after seeing one something like it in a magazine. That shot is from 1975. Thats it for today. I hope your imagination gave you a good idea of what she looked like in the red top. I can still see it when I close my eyes. And as I remember, it was spectacular.

[jdviole2]

Just a quick note. I never tire of talking about Helena but I don't want things to become boring to you all. So if you have anything you would like to know about her let me know. Reply here or leave me a personal message. I'll talk about anything (within reason).

[jackdupp]

Originally Posted by jdviole2

Just a quick note. I never tire of talking about Helena but I don't want things to become boring to you all. So if you have anything you would like to know about her let me know. Reply here or leave me a personal message. I'll talk about anything (within reason).

I am sorry for your wife's passing, she was a beauty and your photography skills were great. I for one am not bored in the least. Thank you for sharing and feel free to share as many pics and stories as you want.

[jdviole2]

So a couple of posts ago I said that one reason we got married was to have someone to have fun with. Now I know that life is work and keeping a good marriage is really work. But no one said you shouldn't have fun at work. Helena was in failing health for the last 4 years of her life. But she never felt sorry for herself and never stopped being a fun person to be around. She joked and laughed right up to her last week. Her mom, who died only a couple of years after we married, told me that she never heard Helena laugh as much as when she was with me. That might be my greatest accomplishment in life, that I made the most important person in my life laugh every day. The cemetary where we will lay allows traditional vertical headstones. (Not every place allows that anymore, a lot of them only allow ground level flat stones) The stone I selected will have our names and dates of course. In addition I added something she and I had talked about before. There will be an inscription that says "OH HOW WE LAUGHED". That is not original. I have read of other people using that. However, it could have been written especially for us. I will still have fun and laugh, that is who I am, but it will never be quite the same anymore. OK so here are the pictures for today. The first one was taken in a local museum around 1977 or 78. Sort of ties in with yesterdays animal post. The second was taken in 1974 again in Pompeii. The large block she is standing on was so the citizens could cross the road without stepping in the water (and other more disgusting things) that normally existed in the streets. The last shot is another "clothed" shot from her early photo sessions from 1974/5.

[jdviole2]

Since we did not spend our money on a fancy house or cars, boats, or other expensive toys we took a lot of trips. While I was still in the navy we got to visit Munich, Naples (where I was stationed) and Rome. After I got home we visited Los Angles and San Diego many times. We also spent a lot of time hiking in the Mountains in Colorado. During one trip to LA we drove and visited sites in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. We went to two World's Fairs, one in New Orleans and one in Vancouver Canada. We had planned to return to Europe so I could take her to all the countries I had visited but sadly we never got that done. What we tried to do was see all we could while we were young. Her parents had intended to wait until retirement for their big trips, and then her mom passed away in her mid 50's. We decided that when our time came we wanted to be able to say "remember when we did this and saw that" rather than "I wish we had done this or saw that". For the most part we accomplished our goal. Though there were places we never got to and things we didn't get to see, we did a lot in the time we had. The last several years Helena was not well enough to endure a long trip or to do the things she wanted to do, so we revisited the places we loved by looking at the slides we had taken. Right up to the last we were planning future trips. I think we both knew we would never take those trips but neither of us let the other know that. So for todays pictures. The first one was taken in Colorado in around 1979 or 80. I had bought the drinking skin somewhere in Europe. Helena learned quickly to take a drink without shooting the liquid all over her face and body. The second photo shows Helena digging for diamonds, in Crater Of Diamonds state park in Arkansas. Didn't find any stones but she had a ball looking for them. Not all of our trips were "wilderness" types of things. The last picture shows Helena in a garden in Los Angles. I think it was on the grounds of the Hunnington Hartford museum. I'm basing this on the fact that the photo was in a group taken at that museum. More later.

[jdviole2]

No story today but maybe a little expansion on each of the pictures. Though most of the pictures I took of Helena were posed shots I enjoyed "surprise" candid pictures also. She didn't like them much. Like the first picture today. She used to say that it was a lot of work being beautiful. Here the work is in progress. She might be smiling but if I remember correctly right after the shutter clicked her middle finger came up. That picture was taken around 1979. The next picture is from the mid 80's. She was taking some kind of medication that caused her face to bloat some. I have very few pictures of her from this time. This was taken in my parents back yard. The next shot is from 1982. It was taken in the badlands of Nebraska. The brown case she is wearing around her neck contains her SLR camera and lens. She is holding (can't see it in the picture) a piece of a fossil mammal jawbone with some teeth. They cover the ground in some areas. (You can't remove them from the area but can pick them up to examine them). The next picture is from 1981 or 82. It was taken somewhere in California. She didn't pose like that much. With her arm on her hip. Don't know why I think it looks very nice. The next picture is taken at Sea World in California also taken in 81 or 82. She is feeding the sea lions. (They had vending machines that dispensed paper cups of chopped fish) One time she was feeding the sea lions and was holding the fish up to make the sea lions rise up. To her surprise a one legged sea gull swooped down and grabbed the fish right out of her hands. Scared the daylights out of her at first. The last picture is from 1980 taking a break somewhere on a trail in Colorado. We very seldom took long trails. Neither of us were in the physical shape to try to hike to the top of the mountains. Still we would average five to seven miles a day on our round trip hikes. All of them were day hikes we never spent the night out. She kind of drew the line there. Mountains were for the sunshine, motels were for the moonlight. That's it for today. Back soon.

[jdviole2]

Helena had a wide interest in all sorts of subjects. On any particular vacation we might visit a doll museum, explore prehistoric native american sites, visit an "ice cave" and then climb the extinct volcano that created it, and end up touring the Liberace museum in Las Vegas. She was up for almost anything I might suggest. Sometimes what we wanted to see was only a short drive off the highway. Like the first picture. Helena is standing at the edge of the Barringer or Canyon Diabalo meteor crater in northern Arizona. 50,000 years ago a 50 meter wide iron/nickle meteorite struck the earth with the force of a 10 megaton bomb leaving a 1200 meter wide 170 meter deep crater. When I visited this as a boy you could descend to the bottom of the crater. We were hoping to do that this time but they stopped allowing it (probably due to insurance issues). This was taken in the late 80's. The second photo shows the work that Helena put into her photography. She would go almost anywhere she needed to and assume whatever position required to get the shot she wanted. She really was a good photographer, much better than I am. This was taken probably around 1990. The third and fourth photos are sort of related. We were in Utah visiting some national parks in the region again taken in the late 80's. The third picture was taken in Arches National Park. The park contains many natural sandstone arches formed as wind and water wore away the surrounding rock layers. Though some of the arches are adjacent to roadways some require a bit of hiking. In this picture we are on our way to Tower Arch. Part of the trail is along the top of a fin or spine of sandstone. You need to climb this ladder and walk along the narrow ridge of rock for several meters till you can climb down the other side. Helen is at the top of the ladder ready to do the walk. She was a real trooper. The fourth picture is actually outside Arches National Park. We are on our way to Corona Arch. This arch is so large that a small private airplane can fly through the arch. (I found out about the arch by seeing that airplane through the arch moment in a movie I was watching on TV). It is only about 1 kilometer from the parking lot but you need to climb a ladder then up this rock face using the wire rope handrail. Well worth the climb though. The last picture was taken in the late 80's. A rare outdoor shot where she is not wearing sunglasses. Thus explaining the squint. Probably taken at her brothers house.

[jdviole2]

Lets talk about holding grudges. Though I always thought of her as perfect, I must reluctantly admit that Helena did have a few faults. One was that she could hold a grudge. I only saw this a couple of times but believe me it wasn't pretty. She could forgive you for almost anything, lord knows she forgave me a lot, but she did have limits. I can give you one example of how long she could hold the grudge. There was a television star that she really liked when she was little. I'm not going to tell you who it was, but he was the star of one of the most popular shows of the time. This would have been in the 1959 or 1960 so she would have been 8 or 9. Helena was thrilled to learn that he was going to be the grand marshal of a major local parade in her hometown. The family got there very early so Helena could get in the front row of people lining the parade route. She waited and finally his car came into view. He was waving at the crowd and they were all waving back. Periodically the car would stop for a few moments the move again. The car stopped right in front of where Helena was standing. She ran up to the car to see him. He NEVER looked down. He totally ignored her. She was crushed. This is one of the childhood stories she made sure to tell me. So flash forward 14 years. I heard on the radio that this "major" star had died. When I got home I made sure this was the first thing I told Helena about my day. She only had one word to say about it, "good". I told her that was pretty harsh and she informed me that she couldn't feel sorry for someone who would treat a little girl that badly. I don't know what the criteria were to get on her list but thankfully I never did anything that bad. So for todays pictures. The first one is Helena getting a room ready for painting about 1990. They say you should never do a major project like paint a house with your spouse. We did it three times and never had a bad experience. Helena was a major Marilyn Monroe fan. So on our first trip to California in 77 or 78 she had to visit Manns Chinese theater to put her hands in Marilyn's prints. (They were a great match) The third photo is taken in 1981 at Colorado National Monument. She is holding her SLR camera. In the next photo she is helping out the environment by holding up a rock ledge in the badlands in South Dakota. Probably around 1994. In the last picture she has gotten something on her hands, something sticky as I remember. Please note the look on her face. I can't tell you how many times I saw that same look. (In fact I have a picture of her taken when she was about 2 years old where she has exactly the same expression) About two weeks before she passed away I said something to her and she flashed that exact same look at me. Its a little hard for me to look at it right now. Enjoy.