This was one of my favorite SI trips because Jamaica was so beautiful. The sunsets were so vibrant and colorful and the sand was so fine and white, like powdered sugar. I grew up riding horses so I’m pretty comfortable around them, but it’s a totally different story when you can’t use your hands! I told the crew, ‘if the horse starts taking off, please everyone turn around so I can grab the reins!’ Lucky for me, the horse didn’t go far.

My dad owns a construction company and works a lot with tractors so I’ve grown up around them my whole life. I never, in a million years, thought someday I’d be laying in a tractor bucket, in a bikini, for Sports Illustrated! This is a Polaroid of the tractor bucket set-up. The actual shot that ended up in the mag was a double-page of me laying horizontal, but this is the position I started in.

In this photo, I’m getting ready to shoot the blanket set-up. The sunset was gorgeous this day. It helped get my mind off the enormous grasshoppers all around me!!!

This photo is of Pia and I getting ready to leave for location. She was the make-up artist and did an awesome job. We had some really early mornings together. One morning it was 3:30am. I’m also wearing one of my favorite t-shirts here.

They made this diamond “M” necklace for the shoot and I got to keep it!

I’ve been digging up a lot of old photos to post and I came across a really cool one that nobody has seen. This is a scan of a Polaroid from my SI 2002 shoot in Costa Rica. We had just finished shooting and I was dancing around under the outdoor shower and the photographer snapped this pic.

I found a few more photos from the SI Iowa shoot, so I will post those in the next few days as well.

Much love,
xoxoM