Top 10 ANTM Photo Shoots

In honor of the 12th cycle of "America's Next Top Model" (premiered last night!) I thought I'd indulge one of my lesser guilty pleasures with this month's Top 10 list. We all know the best part about that show (except for the crazy and the catfights, if you're into that sort of thing) are the photoshoots! In fact, I don't really care if I miss the rest of the episode, as long as I'm in time to see panel look at the photos. (Okay, the other awesome part is playing a drinking game where you drink everytime Tyra talks about herself, her life as a model, or turns someone else's story into an anecdote about her own life!) So here are my favorite 10 photoshoots over the last 11 cycles.

• #10. Season 10, Paint Faces: A different take on the "beauty shots" they do every year, they just poured neon paint on their foreheads and let it run, with mostly successful results.
  
• #9. Season 7, Bullfighters: Sorry, hard to see in miniature, but if you can, do a closeup on Eugena's face (the one on the left) - it was the only good photo girl took all year! Up on her toes, fire in her eyes - love it!
• #8. Season 4, African Wildlife: For some reason, one of my favorite seasons (yes, I really did like Naima and Kahlen - thought they rocked!) The girls dressed up as African animals and posed as that animal over a crocodile with fantastic results! Keenya as an elephant was the only photo I didn't like and that's probably because I hated Keenya!
• #7. Season 3, Cover Girl Ads: They do the Cover Girl ads every season, and 90% of the time, one photo rocks and the other two suck ass. But in Season 3 (the first year CG was a sponsor) all 3 were gorgeous. I was happy with all of them, wanted to put them up on my wall, but it was Eva's (left) that was the prettiest and won her the competition.
• #6. Season 10, Through Water: Didn't even remember this shoot until I was going through every season yesterday, but it's one of the artiest things they've ever done. The girls were shot from underneath as they layed and posed on a plastic sheet covered with water. Interesting results. I'm contemplating printing these out as art for my wall - I like them a lot.
• #5. Season 11, On Boat: I just like shoots on boats. There was another one from Cycle 10 with the girls in lingerie, looking taller that the skyscrapers, but I like the flowy dresses and wind in these ones. Plus I really like all of these girls (Analeigh, McKey and Marjorie - McKey has legs for days!)
• #4. Season 6, Riding Elephants: Could not find bigger versions of this shoot, but if you can zoom in on their faces, they are stunning. Another shoot where every single girl had a good shot, although my favorite (and my pick to win that season, though she didn't) was Joanie in her fab yellow dress and intense eyes.
• #3. Season 8, School Cliches: Another one of my favorite seasons (along with Season 6, there were 2-3 shoots from each I almost chose) this was only the second photoshoot. The girls had to embody cliches such as "Valedictorian", "Nerd", "Weirdo", "Class Clown", and "Flirt." Great lighting choices.
• #2. Season 1, Snake Necklaces: I love the differing make-up in this shoot (seriously in love with winner Adrienne's purple eye-mask) and the way they played with the textures and colors of the snakes to coordinate.
• #1. Season 9, Flowers: I just like flowers. A lot. Don't you all wanna dress up like a flower? (Or a plant - bamboo, moss, and ivy were all options as well!)

Just Missed: Season 6's "Falling Fairy Tales" and "Dolls", Season 8's "Dead Models", Season 10's "Music Genres" and Season 11's "Supermodel Natural Disasters." (Also, possibly, Season 3's "Spider Jewelry" and Season 4's "Seven Deadly Sins."

I also must confess that I really love Cycle 2, even though none of the shoots made my list. Yoanna, Mercedes, Shandi and April is my favorite Final 4 ever! Other favorite seasons include 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9. Not really fond of 5 or 7, though that hasn't stopped me from watching marathons of them at all!