Few would call Bunny Yeager, famous for her photographs of Bettie Page with a cheetah, a proto feminist. But I would and I do. In the early 50s she was a model tired of posing for men who in her opinion did not know what they were doing. She started with self-portraits. Few would know that she was the stills photographer for the James Bond film Dr. No and that she took fabulous photographs of Ursula Andress.
Now in this century her photographs have that “dated” look of an era that is long gone. It is a pity as that era was somewhat more innocent and it did not have any idea of a future when red carpets would show women showing everything with little grace or elegance. .
Because I photographed many ecdysiasts in the 80s I have had a long a fruitful career learning from those patient women how to take their photographs. Now in this century those photographs are dated and most who see them scoff and tell me I am a sexist pig (nice word in Spanish for that – machirulo).
And yes, my photographs, because I really did not know what I was doing, have that innocence of a slow-learning beginner.
Consider the photograph I am using to illustrate this blog. Tarren posed with my cat Gaticuchi for a poster that was featured at the Drake Pub around 1982. In those days these dancers knew how to dress elegantly and furthermore they knew how to disrobe elegantly with good dancing and a surprisingly intelligent choice of music. The Drake and other local pubs were run like ship and they were squeaky clean.
To take the portrait of Tarren with my cat I had one big problem. My basement studio in Burnaby had a low ceiling. Somehow I had to find ways to avoid showing it.
I like this photograph but I am sure that many now would tell me, “Alex thankfully you changed profession and you worked for magazines.”
I believe that Bettie Page would have understood my loss and the loss of people now who like those yoga pants where nothing is left to the imagination.
Looking carefully at the photograph I noticed that Tarren is wearing the famous family jewel - the heart of diamonds - that my grandfather Don Tirso de Irureta Goyena had made in Paris for my grandmother María de los Dolores Reyes de Irureta Goyena.
