Auto Erotica: Classic American Cars & Sexy Poses In The 2011 Miss Tuning Calendar.

I'm know I'm behind on sharing some of the best 2011 wall calendars with my readers, so I hope you'll forgive me for the delay. One of the most coveted art photography calendars, which most of you have probably not yet seen despite the fact that we are 1/4 through the year, features a hot chick and hot wheels.... Tuning World's 2011 Miss Tuning Calendar.



above: The calendar features 27 year old Kristin Zippel

If you love wheels and women, the annual Miss Tuning calendar by Tuning World, Bodensee is sure to get your motor running. Each year they feature the year's chosen "Miss Tuning" striking sexy poses alongside automobiles to bring you an upscale version of the classic grease-monkey pin up wall calendar.


above: Kristin Zippel proudly displays her cover image on the 2011 Miss Tuning Calendar

This years' new Miss Tuning - 27 year-old Kristin Zippel - hails from Mering in the German state of Bavaria. She won the title last May at the World Bodensee Tuning event in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

The calendar cover for 2011:


This year the calendar has a distinctly American theme. Iconic and classic American made automobiles were shot in the Great Lakes region of North America by photographer Max Steam.

"I'm really looking forward to my own first calendar," said Zippel.

Below are close-ups of each month followed by the full shots so you can get a good look at both the tits and the tires - or the asses and the chassis, whichever the case may be. These are followed by images from the set.

January:


February:


March:


April:


May:


June:


July:


August:


September:


October:


November:


December:



Some images from "behind the scenes" at the shoot for you:








The 2011 Miss Tuning calendar was limited to 1,500 copies to help keep it a collector's item and is no longer available for purchase.

The Lavazza 2008 Calendar: A Most Majestic Experience

If you didn't know, Lavazza of Italy produces a calendar that celebrates their brand and their product (espresso) every year. And it's no ordinary 'corporate calendar'. This is always a piece of stunning photographic art. Every year.

They've used an impressive stable of photographers. Coincidentally, the past three years happen to have used three of my personal favorites; Eugenio Recuenco, Erwin Olaf and Ellen Von Unwerth, which is how I even discovered Lavazza and their calendars in the first place. The infamous Helmut Newton shot the first calendar in 1993 for them. And well-known photographers David LaChapelle and Albert Watson have also shot the Lavazza calendar in the past.



This year's calendar theme is "The Most Majestic Experience". Models posing as aristocratic regal "queens' amongst luxury and animals. Shot by Finlay Mackay


Above: Photographer Finlay Mackay


The 2008 Calendar:

Above: the Cover, January~February


Above: March~April

Above: May~June

Above: July~August

Above: September~October

Above: November~December

In addition to creating a pretty piece of functional art, Lavazza's flash site for this year's calendar is a sight to see- and hear. Beautifully designed and easy to navigate, it's filled with goodies. Both a written and narrated story introduces you to each of the "queens" in the calendar:



And you get peek at the actual shoot, both in stills (as seen below) and a video (seen at the end of this post).





And they even have an online contest, Majestic Mahong, you can play and be automatically entered to win a 2008 Calendar or more.

So be sure to check it out when you have some time, because there's so much to see on their site.

In Lavazza's own words, The 16th edition of the Lavazza Calendar, is dedicated to important, aristocratic and determined women, women who feel like queens - in other words, all women. It shows an enchanted and precious world in which queens are surrounded by jewellery, silk, velvet and freely roaming animals proudly reign.

See the new 2008 calendar for yourself here.

Below is Finlay Mackays's tv spot for Lavazza 2008. Please be patient while it loads.



The Most Majestic Experience.
I want to credit all the right people for this wonderful work, and luckily for me, the fabulous client director at Armando Testa has furnished me with a list of the talented people involved on this project.

CREDITS 2008 LAVAZZA CALENDAR / THE MOST MAJESTIC ESPRESSO EXPERIENCE

Supervision & coordination: Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.
Creative project: Armando Testa
Creative directors: Michele Mariani, Germán Silva, Haitz Mendibil, Ekhi Mendibil
Art director: Andrea Lantelme
Copywriter: Cristiano Nardò
Photographer: Finlay MacKay
Assistant photographer: Christopher George, Alick Crossley
Agent: Marco Santucci Photography
Production Company: The Box Films
Set designer: Robin Brown
Costume designer: Moritz Junge
Stylist: Hannah Teare
Hair stylist: James Rowe
Make-up artist: Hiromi Ueda
Post production: Core Digital
Models/animals/etc:
Cover: Sofie Nielander
Queen Vanalika II: Maria Dvirnik
Davidina (Monkey, trained by Daniel Berquinì)
Queen Bao: Xiuli Gao (Queen)
Katsuya Tatsumoto (Painter)
Queen Sophie Margot: Sofie Nielander (Queen)
Massimo Viafora, Fabio Zerba (Servants)
Evija Petuhova (Harlequin)
Queen Yasmine: Anna Sjoberg (Queen)
Men: Silvio Biolcati, Luca Andolfo, Attila Fernec Csiszler
Women: Evija Petuhova, Paula Ludwig
Queen Kuk Grethel: Cicely Telman (Queen)
Falcon from Zoo Grunwalt s.r.l.
Queen Melissa III: Awoi Mac Bullen Geu (Queen)
Men: Luca Andolfo, Attila Fernec Csiszler, Niklas Erik Daniel Crlsson, Andrew Demarsh, Morgan Pieter, Augustin Grunefeld Lance Brolin Wuchterl, Trevor Pedrowski, Milan Gogora, Silvio Biolcati, Manuele Barbaglio, Fabio Rizzo, Giovanni Fortunato
Giorgio Colnaghi, Daniele D’Andrea
Special thanks to: Damiani jewels & Vivienne Westwood

You can see all the past years' calendars by going here.

To buy a calendar, you'll have to check ebay- they don't sell them to the public!