Bunny's Honeys (Photobook) [Paperback]

Bunny Yeager (Author), Eric Kroll (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Photobook | Publication Date: February 1, 1995

In the 1950s Bunny Yeager posed for Playboy and other men's magazines, but before long found herself on the other side of the camera. In a business dominated by men, she was one of the first photographers of pin-ups, and drew upon her own experience in front of the camera. When thousands of copies of US Camera magazine appeared on the news-stands proclaiming Bunny Yeager as the "World's Prettiest Photographer", her life changed drastically. Yet Bunny never gave up modelling - being a photographer was just another asset. Bettie Page and Maria Stinger were Bunny's most popular and important models at the start of her photographic career. She found it exciting to use girls who had never been photographed before and turn them into glamour models. She also relished finding inspiring locations and making the models' outfits. Girls felt more comfortable posing for Bunny than for a male photographer. In the 1970s, the world was changing rapidly and whilst Bunny tried to keep up with the changes in girl photography, she found it more difficult to sell her work and editors began to call her "old fashioned". Glamour photography was more explicit, which Bunny felt was demeaning to women - so she put away her camera for figure photography and concentrated on head shots of actors and models' fashion portfolios. One day in the 1980s, New York fetish photographer, Eric Kroll visited her. A life-long admirer of Bunny's work, he persuaded her to revive some of her early work in a portfolio entitled, "The Girls of the 1950s". Kroll continues to sell these archival prints to collectors of photographic art today.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (February 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822893293
• ISBN-13: 978-3822893296
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,785,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Erotic, glamorous, and tasteful photos by Bunny Yeager, July 3, 2003

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bunny's Honeys (Photobook) (Paperback)

For most people, Bunny Yeager is best known for her photography work involving Bettie Page. Bunny's Honeys is a tasteful collection of many other models Miss Yeager photographed during her heyday. Having started herself as a model for US Camera, it wasn't long before she decided to go on the other side of the lens.

The models are arranged in alphabetical order, with a brief blurb on each one. Unless one were an avid student of 50's and 60's models, the names would be lost, but that's because Yeager preferred to photograph woman who hadn't been photographed before. There are colour and B&W photos. Not all of them are nudes, but being a woman herself, she did have a knack for tastefully bringing out their natural beauty in a way that men photographers wouldn't. Also, the models felt more comfortable posing in front of her as opposed to a man, which stands to reason. And the models have that 1950's look and the texture of the photographs bring out a nostalgic air.

Most of the models have two pages devoted to them. Bettie Page has six. Maria Stinger, a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner, has only two pages devoted despite the fact that a 1954 magazine cover of her was the first photo Bunny sold. Others like Lisa Winters get their due, as Winters became a Playmate of the Year.

Yeager clearly loved her work and some creativity shows, such as the orchid bikini she designed for Joan Rawlings. She describes in the foreword how she always tried to find new posing ideas, hairstyles, etc. However, she felt alienated at the more explicit photos coming to the forefront in the 1970's: "Photos of women in men's magazines were no longer beautiful for me to look at. I didn't want to do that kind of photography. It was demeaning to women. The loveliness of a woman's body was gone and in its place was a type of cold clinical photography that only concentrated on the female sex organs." Result, she gave up pin-up photography.

Eric Kroll's description of Yeager's work is accurate: "Bunny Yeager's photographs were never obscene. Erotic and glamorous yes. Cheesecake, perhaps, but not pornographic. ... These are the 1950's after all." Kroll is known as the man who returned Bunny to the spotlight by making her work, especially Bettie Page photos, available to the public eye. The essay on her gives him a chance to thank the woman whose photos he enjoyed in his youth. And this book gives me a better appreciation of an independent woman ahead of her time. Thanks, Ms Yeager.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Photographs of the finest full figured females, October 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bunny's Honeys (Photobook) (Paperback)

The book's only flaw is that thre are too few pictures and not enough biographical information about each model. If you adore full figured natural women, looking simply heavenly, there is no better book than this. Only Bunny Yeager could have captured these goddesses looking so comfortable in almost nothing. If God is a woman, I hope SHE looks like this!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A trip back to the 1960's, August 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bunny's Honeys (Photobook) (Paperback)

Well, they looked good, but maybe not quite as good as I remembered. But still, quite a few memories. I recall Bunny Yeager from the 1960's, and this definitely took me back. Worth a look!