2012 Lavazza Calender Unveiled [PHOTOS]

The photo images for hotly anticipated Lavazza Calender for 2012 have been released by the Italian coffee company.

Visible on the company's Wed page, 2012marks the 20th anniversary of the annual calender, and instead of inviting one world renowned photographer to shoot the whole thing like it has in the past, Lavazza celebrated by bringing back 12 photographers who had shot previous years, including Miles Aldridge, Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle and Ellen Von Unwerth.

Each was asked to submit a self-portrait, and, in sticking with the calender's history, most (but not all) included a beautiful women.

Here's what each had to say about their work:

January - Erwin Olaf (2005 calender): What’s on the artist’s mind while drinking Lavazza coffee: this was the idea behind the self-portrait. My main inspiration is the human body. I have always loved what light does on a body in the studio, and how
a landscape of skin is created. So naturally, the body is on my mind.

February - Thierry Le Goues (2004): When I am shooting I want to get right inside the very nature of things, be the storyteller of experiences and relive them from the inside. I am not interested in shades and through the lens I can see the world plainly: it is either black or white. Above all black, because of the intensity it conveys, the strength, the sense of cleanliness. Black does not lie, in a certain way it is clear. Just like my models. Just like my coffee.

March - Miles Aldridge (2010): Inside my studio, a childhood memory is analyzed, rearranged, chopped up and questioned again and again until its faint outline comes into focus on the ground-glass of my camera. I fire the shutter freezing the memory forever in the exploding light.

April - Marino Parisotto (1998):For once I want to cherish the dream of being the seducer, not the seduced. What’s more,
this is my chance to be in the spotlight, or better still, be in front of the flash. Even if I don’t manage to be a successful suitor this time, I can still console myself with a good coffee.

May - Eugenio Recuenco (2007): The story I want to tell is of an encounter between two cultures - Spanish and Italian - by using the two legends: Don Quijote and Lavazza. A mixture of story-telling and history, fantasy and reality, the surreal and the real. You know, when you daydream like ‘El ingenioso hidalgo’ you have to keep your eyes wide open. Maybe with a good coffee.

June - Eliott Erwitt (2000): There is a fundamental difference between the photographer Elliott Erwitt and the artist André S. Solidor. Elliott likes his Lavazza espresso neat and ‘corto’, while André likes his macchiato ‘lungo’. But it is fair to say that in one way or another both are united in their fidelity to Lavazza coffee.

July - Finlay MacKay (2008): Like most photographers, I definitely prefer to be on the other side of the camera, so when I was asked to work on this commission it was important that it was done with irreverence and most importantly to have some fun. The most euphoric and excitable entity I know is Frank MacKay, Frank is a French Bulldog and my best friend.

August - Mark Seliger (2011): A patinated 150 year old wall, top lit, an emptied elevator shaft, which now serves as a stairwell. Perhaps an unlikely destination for a photographic series of artists—yet at some point it became a familiar common denominator – almost a stage – not only for my subjects, but also for my work.

September - Annie Leibovitz (2009): My work forces me to travel all the time. Flights, delays, lost baggage, jet lag, endless journeys onboard the weirdest means of transport. No matter how far I travel, I can never escape the way I can when I am behind my camera. That is my real break from the world, those are the moments I dedicate to myself.

October - Albert Watson (1997): We meet at 69 Gansevoort. Every evening. She finishes her show and finds me waiting for her. She is a burlesque dancer. While we are drinking our coffee, she talks a lot, very fast. I don’t. She often says she is happy to be my muse and that I am friendly. She certainly is. She’d like me to go and see her one time when she is performing. I will go. Then we smile our goodbyes and get into our different taxis. Our paths separate until the next evening, when we meet again at 69 Gansevoort.

November - David LaChapelle (2002): Happiness is when the sadness subsides... Coffee and espresso, I use as tools to push my mind into gear. It’s also good for you, black and fresh. It contains very healthy tannins and antioxidants taken this way. Personally, having to deal with depression, coffee helps me in the dark times to feel better and it motivates me, along with intense physical exercise it keeps the Beast at Bay and the darkness away. Thank you Lavazza for the opportunity to create this self-portrait. Thank you also for the aroma, taste and happy ritual of your delicious coffee.

December - Ellen Von Unwerth (1995 and 2006): Everyone knows that I’m a photographer. What they may not know is that I’m often involved with birthday cakes, especially when I’m working with Lavazza. Once, to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the brand and now, because it’s the 20th Birthday of the Lavazza Calendar. So you see, we can always find an excuse for a celebration. And if there’s a party, you can be sure I won’t miss it.

The front and back covers of the calender feature dutch model Valerie van der Graaf, taken by von Unwerth.