The 2012 Lavazza calendar: self-portraits by 12 photographers to mark the 20th edition

The Italian coffee company Lavazza has unveiled the 2012 edition of its collectible calendar. Each year, the calendar is shot by a world renowned photographer, but to celebrate the 20th edition, Lavazza used 12 photographers who had shot previous calendars, asking them to create a self-portrait.

The cover of the 2012 calendar features an Ellen von Unwerth photograph of Valerie van der Graaf. The young Dutch model was chosen because this is the 20th year of the Lavazza Calendar and Valerie is also 20 years old.

January features a self-portrait by Erwin Olaf, who shot the 2005 calendar. He says: "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 Gouès, photographer on the 2004 Lavazza calendar, writes: "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, who photographed the 2010 calendar, says: "Inside my studio, a childhood memory is analysed, 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, who photographed the 1998 Lavazza calendar, writes: "For once I want to cherish the dream of being the seducer, not the seduced."

May: Eugenio Recuenco, who shot the 2007 calendar, writes: "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."

June: Eliott Erwitt, responsible for the 2000 calendar, comes up with a typically quirky, humorous image.

July: Finlay MacKay, who photographed the 2008 calendar, writes: "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. Whenever I come home from whatever place, he is always there - loyal, steadfast and ready to eat any of my clothing or any important documents in my possession, he hates it when I am away and he has eaten two passports and a drivers license, so this proves that he really wants me at home with him. I wanted to tell his story in the image and make people smile for a second. I believe that Life is fun and every second should be savoured."

August: Mark Seliger, responsible for last year's calendar, shot this image in a stairwell at his studio in New York. He explains: "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, who photographed the 2009 calendar, writes: "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, responsible for the 1997 edition, writes: "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, who shot the 2002 Lavazza calendar, comes up with a typically lush, over-the-top image for this year's edition.

December: Ellen Von Unwerth, who has shot two previous calendars (1995 and 2006) writes: "We can always find an excuse for a celebration. And if there’s a party, you can be sure I won’t miss it."