Erwin Olaf turns the camera on himself for the 2012 Lavazza calendar. “The Lavazzers” is the 20th edition of the calendar and reunites twelve masters of photography who have made it a success in past years. Olaf and the eleven other photographers, including Ellen von Unwerth, Annie Leibovitz, and David LaChapelle, interpreted themselves in innovative, unusual, and imaginative shots.

Olaf’s self-portrait starts off the calendar as January. The concept was to celebrate the photographer’s intimate relationship with coffee. Olaf is photographed sitting at a table in a home while bodies contort on the floor, wall, and ceiling around him. His idea for the portrait was to capture what the artist is thinking while drinking coffee. Olaf says, “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.”

Client: Lavazza
Agency: Armando Testa
Photographer: Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf is the 2011 recipient of the Johannes Vermeer Award. The award is a state prize for the arts and was set up in 2008 by the Dutch government. It is awarded for outstanding artistic talent working in the Netherlands in disciplines that range from design to dance, fashion to music, and writing to painting. Boekmanstichting, an intersectional study for arts, culture, and policy, oversees judging and organization for the award and ceremony.

Olaf is the third recipient of the award. The jury praised him for the continuous high quality of his extensive and unique work. According to the jury, Olaf, “has become an artist that exudes passion for the job, whose work is exceptionally rich in its image quality, and who is animated in his development.”

Olaf will receive the award at a ceremony on October 31^st.

See more of Olaf’s photography here.

Louis Vuitton commissions Erwin Olaf’s A Journey to Excellence, showing now at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam until September 27, 2010. The Dutch photographer captures fellow Dutch citizens in a series of portraits. The featured individuals are: Dick Bruna, Hans van Manen (pictured above, right), Janine Jansen (pictured above, left), Johan Cruijff, Joop van den Ende, Lidewij Edelkoort and Paul Crutzen. All are revered in their respective field in culture, science, or sports.

The exhibit coincides with the opening of Louis Vuitton’s new in-store boutique in the Bijenkorf department store in Amsterdam. The Peter Marino designed store is the luxury brand’s second location in the Netherlands.

L: Paul Crutzen: Winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in atmospheric chemistry
R: Joop van den Ende: Media mogul and theatre producer of numerous productions

L: Paul Crutzen
R: Hans van Manen: Ballet dancer, choreographer, and photographer

Johan Cruijff: retired footballer, proponent of the “Total Football” system, manager of football teams, and voted “European Player of the Century”

Janine Jansen – Violinist and recording artist

Links:
Louis Vuitton
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Erwin Olaf

Photo District News announces “the innovators who made the year in photography.” Erwin Olaf and Michael Schnabel were recognized for their advertising work, Stephen Wilkes was honored for three of his editorial pieces, and Stewart Cohen’s and Joel Meyerowitz’s photo books were lauded. Pictured above is Olaf’s “Voltaren” campaign with agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The campaign illustrates that with Voltaren gel, the elderly can become flexible as flexible as a ballerina, dancer, or yoga instructor. Creative Director: Magnus Olsson. Art Directors: Alexander Lagoet, Rick Coolegem.

Photographer: Michael Schnabel
Category: Advertising
Client: O2
Agency: VCCP Berlin
Creative Team: Lars Wohlnick, Michael Milczarek

While the chairs may appear to rest on snow, they are actually sitting in a white sand desert in South Africa. The tagline for the campaign reads “Creating new paths, so that you have it easier,” showing that O2 is willing to go the extra mile for the consumer. Learn More

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: The New York Times Magazine
Director of Photography: Kathy Ryan
Photo Editor: Clinton Cargill
Design Director: Arem Duplessis
Deputy Art Director: Gail Bichler

The dancers of Moses Pendlton’s troupe Momix grace the cover of “The Green Issue.”

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: New York Magazine
Photography Director: Jody Quon

Wilkes took a time-lapse photo of Washington Square Park in New York City, capturing the park from day to night.

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: Vanity Fair
Photography Director: Susan White
Assistant Photo Editor: Dana Kravis

Wilkes’ image appeared in the story about Bernard Madoff’s wife Ruth, “Ruth’s World.” Ruth appears in her Manhattan penthouse prior to her eviction by Federal Marshals.

Photographer: Joel Meyerowitz
Photo Book: Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New york City Parks
Editor: Lesley A. Martin
Forward: Phillip Lopate
Production: Matthew Pimm
Designer: Francesca Richer
Creative Director: Peter Buchanan-Smith
Publisher: Aperture Foundation

Not since the 1930s under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA campaign has a photographer attempted to document the nearly 9,000 acres of parks in New York City’s five boroughs. Commissioned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, renowned photographer Joel Meyerowitz celebrates the beauty of New York’s City’s parks in the publication of Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks.

Photographer: Stewart Cohen
Designers: Todd Hart, Zech Bard/focus2
Copywriter: Bill Baldwin
Publisher: Dream Editions Press

Stewart Cohen’s book Identity examines a series of subjects and what makes them unique as individuals. The monograph is compromised of 50 portraits, to which each person Cohen poses the question, “What makes you unique as an individual?” The hand-written answers are displayed on the facing page, giving each portrait a personal touch.

Erwin Olaf’s “Hotel, Dawn & Dusk” opened last Thursday night at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler in New York to an energetic reception. Patrons eagerly filled the expansive gallery space to view new photographs and videos by the Dutch artist. Olaf’s solo show debut in New York was “Rain and Hope,” followed by a succesful sophomore show “Grief.” “Dawn & Dusk” marks the mature succession of Olaf’s vision.

Olaf describes “Dusk” as “a dark comic strip.” In response to Dusk, Olaf shot “Dawn,” images inspired by by an encounter in Russia with pale-skinned people in characterless rooms. Dawn and Dusk are inverted mirrors of each other, one dark and one light, both enigmatic in their own right.

Also on view is “Hotel,” a body of work dealing with Olaf’s travels and the accompanying feelings of transience and anomie, the unsettled sense of passing through, and the boredom of being on one’s own.

Besides New York, Erwin Olaf has also held solo shows at Institute Néerlandais, Paris; Domus Artium 2002 (DA2), Salamanca; Photo Museum Antwerp; The Grand Manege, Moscow Biennalle of Fashion and Photography; The Hague Museum of Photogra- phy; and Museum Forma, Milan. He has been included in shows at Kunsthalle Winterthur; MuHKA (Museum for Contemporary Art), Antwerp and Seoul Art Centre.

His commercial and editorial clients include Diesel, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Elle, and The New York Times Magazine. His awards include recognition from The Association of Photographers, London; the PDN Photography Annual, New York; and he received a Silver Lion, Cannes.

Recently, his short film Dusk debuted at Diane Pernet’s fashion film festival A Shaded View on Fashion Film in Paris. Erwin Olaf lives and works in Amsterdam. Hotel, Dawn & Dusk is supported by the Consulate General of the Netherlands and The Mondrian Foundation.

Erwin Olaf: “The Mother,” Dawn

Erwin Olaf – “The Soldier,” Dawn

Erwin Olaf: “The Mother,” Dusk

Erwin Olaf: portraits and still-lifes from Dusk

Erwin Olaf: Paris, Hotel

Erwin Olaf: Winston Salem, Hotel

Erwin Olaf: Portraits, Hotel

Two women discuss Olaf’s work

Viewers young and old watch as “Dusk” and “Dawn” play simultaneously on two screens.

Hasted Hunt Kraeutler housed a packed opening.

Fashion impresario Diane Pernet presents the second annual ASVFF 2009, A Shaded View on Fashion Film. The festival features work by Erwin Olaf, Steven Klein, Chris Cunningham, and more. Making its debut at the festival, Olaf’s film Dusk shows a tableaux vivant of an African American Family set within the background of the city of New York. Originally pursuing a career in journalism, Olaf has always been interested in exploring issues of gender, sensuality, humour, despair and grace.

Screenings will run at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris on September 25, 26, and 27, 2009. The final awards ceremony will be held at the Centre Pompidou on October 8, 2009 with special guest fashion designer Rick Owens.