The book's back cover is a note by the author, explaining how the 70s were a different time, "the last generation who could enjoy carefree sex." He goes on to say that he took a lot of pictures with his ever ready Nikon, and many of his girlfriends were willing to be photographed topless or nude. He also says that he's remained friends with most of those ex-es, and those are the ones who consented to those pictures being in the book.
Alas, this book is a bit of a "Blair Witch" project, in that
the photos aren't the real deal, but latter day shoots with
professional models. The backdrops
and hairstyles are all exceedingly well done, enough so that magazine
such as The New Yorker, Details, and Time didn't catch on.
(Nor did they do the math, apparently Helfrich is a bit young
to be graduating highschool in the early 1970s)
Helfrich has 'fessed up but does claim that they are re-creations based on his
actual history.
What makes this book, alongside the voyeuristic appeal of "amateur" photography,
are the descriptions of each woman and photograph that Helfrich gives in notes
that appear to be written by hand.
They do chart a lot of emotional territory, and it's always interesting to use
a book like this as a mirror of our own romantic pasts. The photos are varied
enough that they do seem to taken from real life, mostly indoors, with a
few "splendor in the grass" moments.On the other hand, the narrative formed is one of a very successful Don Juan. Besides the fact that everyone of his "ex-girlfriends" are borderline gorgeous, there are a lot of them. I dunno; maybe as a goofy cherub-faced geek in the AIDS-aware 90s I have an overly jaded view, but the quantity and quality took away from the verisimilitude of the work as a whole. Still, the stories he tells chart both the ups and the downs, this book aims for being more than a list of trophies.
Note for the prudish, shown here are two of the more conservative photos from the book, most are a lot more naked-y. You can order it from Amazon (and provide a small kickback to the Blender, though I'm not too worried about that.) People who are interested in naked pictures of "real people" might want to check out Richard Kern's "New York Girls" or "My Wife" by Petter Hegre.
