Miss November

Back in 1972 Swedish model Lena Forsén couldn't possibly have foreseen that when she got the gig to pose topless for Playboy magazine in 1972 (she was their Miss November centrespread) her, cropped, image (above) would be used worldwide for decades as industry standard for most photo image processing algorithms - what we know today as jpegs; many years later she was credited with being the first Lady of the Internet.

I heard the fascinating story this afternoon on 99% Invisible the wonderful radio show/podcast hosted by Roman Mars - now in its 14th year and with well over 500 episodes in the can. Lena's story, as with most features on the show, is fascinating. Click on the above link to find out more and here the episode in full (it's on the 'Shirley Cards' ep. - another fascinating photographic story I wasn't previously aware of). In the meantime, here's the uncropped photograph taken by Dwight Hooker as it would have appeared at the time (minus the staples).