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Body blurbs: Candace Parker

After four years and countless Body Issue photo shoots, The Mag's fearless senior deputy photo editor, Nancy Weisman, has seen it all. But for all of the skin bared in the issue, there are a few things you didn't get to see. Nancy shares the inside scoop:

CANDACE PARKER
Our spray-paint concept ultimately didn't make the cut, but it was no less fun to shoot! We wanted to convey a more "energetic" style for Candace, so I got the idea to do something with a painted background and body paint. I was excited to get Ture Lillegraven to do the shoot, as he brings such pop and life to his images. Then I enlisted the help of visual artist Sket One, who was recommended to me by another great artist, Katro Storm. Fortunately, Sket was interested and available and sent me sketches almost immediately.

When Candace arrived at the studio in LA, we immediately measured her against the wall where Sket would paint. Candace in person is extremely impressive. She's quite tall, with exceptionally muscular arms and a stunning face. Of course, painting her privates just perfectly required a bit of time from Saisha Beechman. It's not easy to be painted in all those private places! But finally they emerged and Candace stood in front of the backdrop. At first she was a little shy, but soon enough she was comfortable and we were getting amazing shots. And that smile ... it lit up the studio. She was a sport.

NEXT: MIKE SMITH | PREVIOUS: ROB GRONKOWSKI

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