Following yesterday’s release of their annual Top 10 Photographs of the Year, TIME magazine has now also dropped a “2012: A Year of Deja Vu” gallery. In it, they have assembled a host of paired up images, each taken roughly a year apart, to reveal some uncanny similarities between them.

Take the above photos, for example. Both feature tourists enjoying the weather and sun on the beach of Giglio Island – near the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia. The pic on the left was taken on 13 January this year, while the one on the right was snapped on 12 October.

TIME also explains that, while sometimes these similarities are purely coincidental, occasionally photographers purposefully return to a past subject or location to take a similarly composed photograph.

More examples can be seen in the gallery below, and include a 2011 image by David Guttenfelder who flew to Japan to record the devastating effects of the previous December’s tsunami and earthquake. One year later, he returned to the exact same spots as his previous photographs to show the progress made during recovery. There is also an image of Steve Rauke who photographed the dignified transfers of numerous U.S. servicemen at Dover Air Force base since 2009 – serving as a constant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by American troops abroad.

Some of the lighter moments include a group of Japanese college students watching a cheerleader at a rally in Tokyo. About 1 500 students from business schools attended the annual rally to boost their morale ahead of their job hunt. You’ll also spot Italy’s Member of the European Parliament, Licia Ronzulli, taking part with her daughter in a voting session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

[Source: TIME Magazine]