Inaugurated in 1964, the seductive calendar is only gifted to an exclusive list of celebrities and Pirelli’s VIPs. This is precisely what we see in the Pirelli calendar, which, released Dec. Although, he admits, he’s not sure exactly how it happens, Sorrenti forges an intimate bond with his subjects he creates an ease on set that translates into raw intensity on the page. Perhaps these experiences are what help him to connect with the models he photographs. Working as a model in his youth, Sorrenti, whose Mediterranean good looks often rival those of his subjects, spent his fair share of time posing (sometimes nude, sometimes not) for the cameras of Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, and Steven Meisel.

So it’s no surprise that Sorrenti, who now lives in New York with his wife, Mary Frey, and two children, was tapped to shoot the 2012 Pirelli calendar. The Italian-born, New York-raised photographer is famed for his ability to capture the vulnerable beauty of nude models with his lens. Now, almost 20 years later, Sorrenti’s bold, sensual images frequent Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview, and W, for whom he recently shot a cover with the Fanning sisters. Of course, it helped that his girlfriend was Kate Moss, and that the piercing image was for Calvin Klein’s iconic Obsession campaign. In 1993, a picture of his naked girlfriend was all it took to launch then 21-year-old Mario Sorrenti’s explosive career in fashion photography.

Kate moss and mario sorrenti