Lena Forsén
Swedish model
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lena Forsén[1] (Swedish: [ˈlêːna fʊˈʂeːn]), previously Soderberg[2] (born Sjööblom;[2] born 31 March 1951), is a Swedish model who appeared as a Playmate in the November 1972 issue of Playboy magazine,[3] as Lenna Sjööblom. Her centerfold was photographed by Dwight Hooker. The photograph would later become a ubiquitous standard test image in the field of digital image processing under the title Lenna.
| Lena Forsén | |
|---|---|
| Playboy centerfold appearance | |
| November 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Sharon Johansen |
| Succeeded by | Mercy Rooney |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 31 March 1951 Sweden |
Career
Modelling
Forsén's career began by modelling jewellery and for catalogues in Chicago, Illinois, after moving to the United States from Sweden to be an au pair for a family member. In 1972, she was shot for the centerfold of the November issue of Playboy magazine. After that, she moved to Rochester, New York, and became a "Shirley" – a Kodak model – while moonlighting as a bartender. Thereafter she appeared on a large number of Kodak publications, including in ads for products, in catalogs, and on instruction booklets.[1]
Lenna
A cropped version (the head and shoulder section) of her centerfold, known as Lenna, has become a standard test image that is often used to test algorithms in digital image processing.[4] She was a guest at the 50th annual Conference of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) in 1997, where she gave a presentation about herself.[2] Because of the ubiquity of her Playboy photo scan, she has been called the "first lady of the internet".[5][6] The title was given to her by Jeff Seideman in a press release he issued announcing her appearance at the 50th annual IS&T Conference.[citation needed] In January 2019 she said that while she wished she had been better compensated, she was "really proud of that picture".[1] However, in a short documentary titled Losing Lena that premiered in North America in November that year, she says, "I retired from modeling a long time ago. It’s time I retired from tech, too."[7]
After modelling
In 1997, Forsén worked for a government agency supervising disabled employees, archiving data using computers and scanners.[8][9]
Personal life
Forsén has been married twice, has three children, and multiple grandchildren.[1]
