(CNN) -- Newly revealed photographs of Reeva Steenkamp show the South African beauty as a young aspiring model, and as a star cover girl, just months before her tragic death. One group of images, taken by Reeva's friend Kerry Smith eight years before her death, show the then 21-year-old law student and modeling wannabe posing on the beach at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where she grew up -- and where her grieving parents scattered her ashes. Her dark hair, freckles and innocent good looks are a world away from the shots of a bikini-clad Reeva featured in glossy magazines which millions around the world are now familiar with.
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Pictures show Reeva Steenkamp as aspiring model and established cover girl
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Friend and photographer says early images show Steenkamp's "natural beauty"
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Later picture shows Steenkamp's very personal tattoo, "Only God will judge me"
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Steenkamp shot dead by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius; he says he mistook her for intruder
These photos, said to have been commissioned by Steenkamp for an unidentified "special someone," show a @placeholder who is -- outwardly at least -- very different: Blonde, confident, worldly and polished.