Double Exposure

Roughly two years ago, a cute and curvaceous Florida model took a long gander at her bank account, compared it with those of the photographers who hired her, and decided she was in the wrong end of the business. She sunk her next couple of paychecks into an inexpensive camera, a short course in photography, and a rubber stamp that read "Photo by Bunny Yeager."

She was, of course, already familiar with such fundamental modelling know-how as sucking in the tummy, throwing out the chest, pointing the toes and saying "Cheese." So she hired a shapely swimsuit model, talked her out of the swimsuit, and started snapping pictures. Bunny Yeager, cheesecake photographer, was in business.

One of her very first shots (of Maria Stinger, the Marilyn Monroe of Miami, holding a pair of leopards on a leash), made the cover of a national magazine. A little later, a series featuring Terry Shaw landed in Pageant. Before long, Bunny was unable to tell offhand just how many magazines she was selling to, but her tremendous output ranked her with the leading pin-up photogs in the country and, late last year, she was commissioned to do a Playmate for the Holiday Issue of Playboy. She came up with a very tasty study of Bettie Page wearing a Santa Claus hat and a big smile.

Bunny, needless to say, now has a bank account many male photographers would regard with envy. One of the reasons is that she's a very thrifty young lady. She doesn't squander her hardearned cash on unnecessary extravagances like studios, for example. "Here in Florida," she says, "we've got the sunshine, the ocean and plenty of girls. Who needs a studio?"

During a shooting session, the affable red-head becomes a grimly industrious businesswoman who snaps shot after shot, pose after pose, roll after roll of film, thus getting the absolute most out of her model's hourly fee. Occasionally, she tries a more tricky economy measure and puts a timer on her shutter, doubling in brass as model and photographer.

As a woman, Bunny has a unique advantage over her male colleagues. Some girls have no objection to posing in swimsuits or lingerie, but they get coy (or so we're told) when a male photog asks them to pose in the altogether. Naturally, they can have no such objections when the photographer's personal apparatus is no different than their own. This state of affairs has led one punning lensman to lament that bashful models will disrobe for only one of two reasons -- for love or Bunny.

However, since most of Bunny's work is done out of doors, nude modelling does pose a few problems. There was the time, for instance, when Bunny and her undraped subject were surprised to find their labors being gleefully observed by a group of fishermen whose boat had glided silently into view. Or the time Bunny thought she'd foil such prying eyes by working in the privacy of a walled garden, not reckoning with a low-hovering heliocopter and its interested pilot. Usually, though, Bunny avoids these problems by shooting her pictures in the early morning, before more conventional citizens are up and doing.

Bunny is by no means an expert photographer, and she's the first person to admit it. Her shooting techniques are about as simple and basic as the tips in those free pamphlets you get with packages of flash bulbs. And her equipment is anything but fancy. One of her cameras has a broken shutter and her tripod is corroded from salt water. But this doesn't worry her. She knows that the elements of pin-up photography are little more than a well-stacked model, a camera, and someone behind it to snap the shutter.

By simply moving from the front to the back of the camera, ex-model Bunny Yeager is making a lot more bread-and-butter out of cheesecake.

Model Bunny Yeager posed for photographer Dave Avant in a picture story of a secretary vacationing in Cuba, which appeared in the Chicago Tribune's magazine section recently. Bunny measures 37"-25-1/2"-37" from top to bottom or vice versa and has held such titles as "Queen of Miami," "Sportsqueen" and "Miss Trailercoach."

Photographer Bunny Yeager shot these pictures of fresh, young model Terry Shaw. They were among her very first and she sold them to Pageant. "I figured that if I knew how to pose and how to set up a picture, then all the guy back of the camera was doing was clicking the shutter," Bunny recalls. "That didn't seem hard and he was making all the money."

Photographer Bunny Yeager shot these pictures of fresh, young model Terry Shaw. They were among her very first and she sold them to Pageant. "I figured that if I knew how to pose and how to set up a picture, then all the guy back of the camera was doing was clicking the shutter," Bunny recalls. "That didn't seem hard and he was making all the money."

Bettie Page is Bunny's most popular model and was our January Playmate.

Bunny and a blonde go on an early morning shooting assignment; Bunny uses Miami's surf and sand for a studio and likes to do figure studies before the local citizens are up and about. She finds models more willing to pose nude for her than for masculine photographers. Bunny, herself, has stripped down to transparent undies as a model, but she has never posed professionally in the altogether.

Bunny and a blonde go on an early morning shooting assignment; Bunny uses Miami's surf and sand for a studio and likes to do figure studies before the local citizens are up and about. She finds models more willing to pose nude for her than for masculine photographers. Bunny, herself, has stripped down to transparent undies as a model, but she has never posed professionally in the altogether.

Bunny and a blonde go on an early morning shooting assignment; Bunny uses Miami's surf and sand for a studio and likes to do figure studies before the local citizens are up and about. She finds models more willing to pose nude for her than for masculine photographers. Bunny, herself, has stripped down to transparent undies as a model, but she has never posed professionally in the altogether.

Bunny and a blonde go on an early morning shooting assignment; Bunny uses Miami's surf and sand for a studio and likes to do figure studies before the local citizens are up and about. She finds models more willing to pose nude for her than for masculine photographers. Bunny, herself, has stripped down to transparent undies as a model, but she has never posed professionally in the altogether.

With an automatic timer attached to her camera, Bunny is able to play both photographer and model at the same time. Here, in one end of her living room, she adjusts lights and camera; after checking exposures (the camera's and her own), she sets the timer and steps in front of the lens. A mirror beside the camera helps her to find the proper pose and expression. This shooting arrangement saved a model's fee and produced some very saleable cheescake. Models are no problem for Bunny, however. Because of many friendships made during her own modelling career, she has some of the country's choicest charmers to choose from.

With an automatic timer attached to her camera, Bunny is able to play both photographer and model at the same time. Here, in one end of her living room, she adjusts lights and camera; after checking exposures (the camera's and her own), she sets the timer and steps in front of the lens. A mirror beside the camera helps her to find the proper pose and expression. This shooting arrangement saved a model's fee and produced some very saleable cheescake. Models are no problem for Bunny, however. Because of many friendships made during her own modelling career, she has some of the country's choicest charmers to choose from.

With an automatic timer attached to her camera, Bunny is able to play both photographer and model at the same time. Here, in one end of her living room, she adjusts lights and camera; after checking exposures (the camera's and her own), she sets the timer and steps in front of the lens. A mirror beside the camera helps her to find the proper pose and expression. This shooting arrangement saved a model's fee and produced some very saleable cheescake. Models are no problem for Bunny, however. Because of many friendships made during her own modelling career, she has some of the country's choicest charmers to choose from.

With an automatic timer attached to her camera, Bunny is able to play both photographer and model at the same time. Here, in one end of her living room, she adjusts lights and camera; after checking exposures (the camera's and her own), she sets the timer and steps in front of the lens. A mirror beside the camera helps her to find the proper pose and expression. This shooting arrangement saved a model's fee and produced some very saleable cheescake. Models are no problem for Bunny, however. Because of many friendships made during her own modelling career, she has some of the country's choicest charmers to choose from.

With an automatic timer attached to her camera, Bunny is able to play both photographer and model at the same time. Here, in one end of her living room, she adjusts lights and camera; after checking exposures (the camera's and her own), she sets the timer and steps in front of the lens. A mirror beside the camera helps her to find the proper pose and expression. This shooting arrangement saved a model's fee and produced some very saleable cheescake. Models are no problem for Bunny, however. Because of many friendships made during her own modelling career, she has some of the country's choicest charmers to choose from.