Contributors

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Raphael Mazzucco
This New York-- based photographer did the SI cover girls and Molly Sims shoots. His favorite moment came when Sims first saw her diamond-studded suit. "These gems make Paris Hilton's diamonds look like rhinestones," she said.

Walter Iooss Jr.
A Swimsuit veteran who lives on Long Island, he did the Maria Sharapova shoot. "She knows she looks good in front of a camera," Iooss says. "I see why she's such a great player. Even as a model she has phenomenal focus."

Steve Erle
A Swimsuit regular since 2002, this Hollywood Hills denizen shot our Tinseltown tribute. His idea of purr-fection: putting Noemie Lenoir in his Jaguar with a leopard. If you're scoring at home, that's three wildcats in one car.

Tiziano Magni
He confesses that he had embarked for his shoot in Colombia with some fear. "I was afraid of encountering rebels and drug dealers," he says, "but the Colombians were very welcoming and as sweet as those coconut cookies they make."

Stewart Shining
His SI jobs have all been T&A: Tahiti, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the Adirondacks and Argentina. A model in Tahiti had a late-night burger jones. "She had to be talked out of breaking into the hotel kitchen and grilling one herself," he says.

BODY CANVASSER
Joanne Gair

"Sometimes she pulls paintbrushes from behind my ear and starts doodling on herself," says Joanne Gair of her friend and collaborative canvas, Heidi Klum. They have worked together nine times since meeting in 1997, including seven SI stints. "Heidi appreciates the art," says Gair, better known to friends as Kiwi Jo, a tribute to her native New Zealand. "She realizes it's not as easy as abracadabra." But the effect can be magical, which is why Gair's work--she painted the famed three-piece pinstriped birthday suit on Demi Moore for Vanity Fair in 1992--has earned her international fame. Last year she published her first book, Paint A'Licious: The Pain-Free Way to Achieving Your Naked Ambitions, and this fall will publish Body Painting, a retrospective of her images from the past two decades. "I find my models come to the table really excited by the whole process," says Gair. "It's liberating to be wearing nothing. If you have ever gone swimming naked, you know what I mean."