Bunny Yeager

Biography

Linnea Eleanor "Bunny" Yeager (March 13, 1929 – May 25, 2014) was an American photographer and pin-up model. Her family moved to Florida when she was 17, and after graduating high school she enrolled at the Coronet Modeling School and Agency and subsequently won numerous local beauty pageants and became one of the most photographed models in Miami. Photos of Yeager appeared in over 300 newspapers and magazines. Yeager entered photography to save money by copying her modeling photographs, enrolling in a night class at a vocational school in 1953. Her career as a professional photographer began when a picture of Maria Stinger, taken for her first school assignment, was sold to Eye magazine for the cover of the March 1954 issue. She became a technically skilled photographer noted for, among other things, her early use of the fill flash technique to lighten dark shadows when shooting in bright sun. Yeager was one of the first photographers to photograph her models outdoors with natural light. Bunny discovered legendary pin-up queen Bettie Page in 1954. Her photo of Page posing in nothing but a fur-trimmed Santa hat was published as the centerfold in the January 1955 special holiday issue of "Playboy." This photo, along with other pictures of Bettie taken by Bunny, played a key role in establishing Page's iconic status. Her photographs were featured in a huge array of men's magazines throughout the years. Bunny also published over 20 books on photography.