So, just how did famed newspaper photographer Bill Snead end up shooting one of the most controversial college calendars in the nation?

Having come full circle and returned to the Lawrence Journal-World after a career that has taken him to such national journalistic institutions as the Washington Post and National Geographic magazine, Snead still enjoys entertaining himself with controversy.

Most recently, photographing scantily clad college students for the "Women of K.U." calendar spiced his resume and raised more than a few eyebrows ... not just in the newspaper industry, but in Snead's own newsroom.

For Snead, shooting the controversial calendar was little more than a chance to make people happy.

"There are people out there who know I've been around the block a couple of times, and the first question they still ask is, 'What's it like to photograph the "Women of K.U.?"'" he said, laughing. "So I make sure they get a copy for them just to see them smile.

"It's fun."

He added of his subjects: "They're nice young college women who think being in a calendar would be a hoot."

And, to be honest, Snead thought it would be a hoot, too.

Snead shot the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Women of K.U. calendar -- years when the calendar, which was started in 2000, found itself in the national spotlight.

For many of the KU college students who who were photographed by Snead for the popular calendar, they said the chance to work with the world-renowned photographer was one of their most most-cherished memories from being in the calendar.