Throwback Thursday: Behind the scenes with Jessica White through the years

Rebecca Shore | Apr 23, 2014

Maui, 2008 :: Randall Grant/SI

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WITH TWELVE shoots across eight SI Swimsuit Issue appearances (2003-'05, '07-'11), Jessica White managed quite a world tour during her SI days, jet-setting to some of the globe's most astonishing locations—Kenya, Croatia, Hawaii, Grenadines, Portugal and the Philippines, to name a few.

Her most recent shoot in the Philippines boasted a star-filled cast: Irina Shayk, Chrissy Teigen, Esti Ginzburg and a certain first-timer named Kate Upton. But despite it all, one writer assigned to cover the shoot admitted that though he was awestruck by the obvious beauty and talent surrounding him, it was Jess who blew him away with her gift for transforming from "merely" a gorgeous swimsuit model into something otherworldly the minute the shutter started clicking. (You can watch footage from that shoot at the bottom of the post.) It's this feel for the work that keeps her gainfully employed in the industry over a decade after her first Swimsuit shoot.

It is away from the set, of course, where some of the best shots always emerge. This Thursday we're throwing it back to four of her shoots: Montauk, Maui, Portugal and the Philippines.

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