Loss of a legend.
The world of classic pin up photography said goodbye to one of the greats this weekend as photographer Bunny Yeager died while in a care facility in Florida. In the 1950s, Yeager was a young beauty queen turned model who took a risk to pursue a career behind the camera as a photographer. The gorgeous red head saw a major opportunity when she met stunning, essentially unknown model Bettie Page. After printing the images from their first shoot together, a holiday-themed series featuring a nude Page wearing only a Santa hat, Yeager sent the sexy snapshots to a new magazine named Playboy. The periodical was brand new itself and loved taking risks on new talent — Yeager and Page were about to be prime examples.
Yeager would spend the next 20 years photographing dozens of pin up models for various publications, including expanding her legacy at Playboy. She continued to work with Bettie Page who would go on to be one of the most iconic pin up models in history. But the genius artist’s work would come to halt in the ’70s, when the pornography industry moved away from enriched editorial features and into graphically explicit images, which she felt was over the line. “I’m not doing it to titillate anybody’s interest,” she said in a Sun Sentinel interview. “I want to show off how beautiful my subjects are, whether it’s a cheetah or a live girl or two of them together.”
In 2011, Yeagers work resurfaced partly thanks to a revitalization of Bettie Page’s historical images. Her work was hosted in numerous galleries and museums, including the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. In memory of Bunny’s extensive portfolio, let’s take a look back at some of the icon’s most memorable photos.
Yeager and Page
Images via Bunny Yeager