The Good, Bad and Beautiful From SI’s Annual Babes in Bikinis Magazine
The 2012 SI Swimsuit issue has arrived in my mailbox, and I owe the postman a “thank you” for gently placing it on top of the tiny slot and not trying to jam it into the box and ripping it.
Kate Upton is on the cover and it would be shame to have any of her body tattered. She is sensational, without question the star of the issue. Although Genevieve Morton is certainly worth her salt, as well.
The first thing you should do, assuming you can take your eyes off Kate on the cover, is to remove all those intrusive insert ads that make smoothly flipping through the pages impossible. There’s more than a half dozen of them from Direct TV alone and it takes a gentle touch to rip them out without ripping up the pages. I also now smell like three different kinds of cologne from pulling out those ads.
To get to Kate’s photos, go directly to page 84, where there are five pictures in Australia, including one in a fishnet top that made Cheryl Tiegs a household name and in fact made this issue of SI what it is today. But stop your panting, boys, because the photo is taken from the side, not the front like Teigs’, and offers only imagination when it comes to seeing more than what a bikini top reveals. There are a few more photos of her in the U.S. Gulf States section, including a particularly fetching two-page spread on pages 148-149.
Still, given her considerable beauty and the scenic locations, more photos of her would better serve the magazine’s readers (or scanners, as we are for this issue). The editors could have easily bypassed Adaora, Cintia Dicker, Crystal Renn and Izabel Goulart to devote more space to their cover girl.
There also needs to be more of Nina Agoal.
And who chose those two pictures of Michelle Yawer; were I to pass her on the street I might walk out in front of a bus but in the magazine they have one unflattering pose of her in front of a dark wall and another against what looks like a building in the projects.
One element SI has added the past few years is including athletes in the swimsuit issue. And this is the best one ever, led by bikinis body painted on golfer Natalie Gulbis – and what I wouldn’t give to play “a round” with her – swimmer Natalie Coughlin and the surprisingly stunning Alex Morgan, a member of the USA Women’s Soccer team. Yeah, I didn’t know of her either, but I’ll sure be paying attention to our women’s soccer team now!
The flashback spread of 2010 cover girl Bar Refaeli is, bar none, spectacular. She’s posing with male athletes Chris Paul, Michael Phelps and Rafael Nadal (the lucky devils) shot against a dark background, and the pictures just pop off the page.
The most spectacular photo is right at the front of the magazine, Morton on the edge of a waterfall in Zambia. That had to be frightening for everyone involved, and for Morton in particular. I’ve leaned over the railing of Niagara Falls and can say from first-hand experience that it’s a real rush but I certainly would not want to be where she was posed.
Strangely, several of the photos throughout the magazine appear grainy. This is a head-scratcher, for SI has some of the most gifted photographers in the world and it’s not in the printing, either.
Overall, it’s sure a nice change-up from having some sweaty athlete in competition on the cover. And I’m glad the postman delivered it in pristine shape.
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