First, a warning: this film contains a great deal of female nudity, as it focuses on the woman who became the most successful photographer for Playboy. Bunny Yeager shot thousands of photographs of the iconic pin-up model Bettie Page, helping to launch her career, turned the bikini into a cultural symbol, and even anticipated what we now call the selfie. So how — and why — was she forgotten?

Yeager worked within a ruthless industry, yet she navigated the male-dominated, exploitative atmosphere of the 1950s and 1960s with remarkable ease — something the film vividly conveys. The men around her were slow to acknowledge her talent; according to the film, the most notable title they gave her was “the world’s most beautiful photographer.” Before she ever picked up a camera, she had been a model herself, and the women she later photographed praised the empathy she showed them, saying they felt safe posing nude in front of her.

Decades later, several feminist movements embraced Yeager as an example of an independent woman who helped other women take pride in their bodies, and her photographs were exhibited in a number of museums across the United States.