Boudoir Beauties

I imagine a photo shoot with iconic pin-up photographer Bunny Yeager being a bit like a slumber party, where pretty girls trade beauty tips and adjust each other’s updos as they lazily begin to slump. By all accounts, that’s a fairly accurate depiction, and that camaraderie formed gave Yeager a unique advantage over her all-male counterparts. She’s known, most famously, as the finder of America’s glamour vixen, Bettie Page. But her role went beyond that of simple scout or even accomplished shutterbug; Yeager changed the way these shots were done by staging beautiful women in naturally playful locations, rather than at a sterile studio session. That iconic photo of Bettie Page petting two cheetahs in a Jane of the Jungle one-piece? Bunny Yeager staged and took that at a Boca Raton wild animal refuge — she even hand-sewed Page’s swimsuit. And the world’s first quirky exposure to the brunette sweetheart, a Playboy cheesecake number where Page winks weirdly while decorating a Christmas tree in nothing but a Santa hat? Yeager took that one too, and sewed the cap. Model-turned-photographer Bunny Yeager is a trailblazer, so you’ll need to visit Photographs Do Not Bend (1202 Dragon St., Suite 103) between 5 and 8 p.m.; it’s opening a self-titled exhibition of her most charming prints on Saturday. Signed copies of her book Bunny Yeager’s Darkroom: Pin -up Photography’s Golden Era will also be available. This show runs through May 11. Visit pdnbgallery.com.

Sat., Feb. 23, 2013