Chasing Light, Speed & Emotion — The Story of Andrejs Zavadskis
 | Andrejs Zavadskis is a professional photographer based in Riga, working across commercial, editorial, motorsport, wedding, travel, and aerial photography. Active since 2004, he has built one of Latvia’s most diverse photography portfolios, combining cinematic storytelling with real human emotion. His work includes projects for Forbes, Gumball 3000, Burning Man, and brands such as Nordea Bank, Swedbank, and Sportland. Known for his dynamic visual style and passion for storytelling, Zavadskis works with Leica, Nikon, and Hasselblad systems, documenting everything from high-speed rallies to intimate portraits and remote travel expeditions around the world. |
Overview
| Professional Photographer · Riga, Latvia, EUROPE Andrejs ZavadskisCommercial · Editorial · Motorsport · Wedding · Travel · Aerial | andreart.net @zavadskis · ~94K files.fm |
| Forbes USA Editorial | LKFA Award Wedding Photographer of the Year | Gumball 3000 ×5 Official Photographer | 5,895 m Kilimanjaro |
From the cobblestones of Riga to the crater of Kilimanjaro —
a lens trained on every human truth in between.
About
A Latvian eye on the world
There are photographers who document moments, and there are photographers who own them. Andrejs Zavadskis belongs firmly in the second category. Based in Riga — a city whose medieval silhouette and raw Baltic light seem purpose-built for someone with an artist's eye — Zavadskis has spent two decades building one of the most eclectic and accomplished portfolios in European photography.
His journey began around 2004 as a self-driven enthusiast, evolving into a formally trained professional through a rigorous programme recognised by the International Education Society LTC. What followed was not a linear career but an expanding spiral: each discipline pulled him toward the next, and each assignment pushed the edges of what he considered his craft.
"A camera is a weapon against forgetting."
This is not a photographer content to stay in one lane. His Instagram archive — 3,919 entries spanning from 2011 to the present — reads like a visual autobiography of insatiable curiosity: wedding ceremonies and rally dust, food still-lifes and mountain snow, corporate corridors and Burning Man's Nevada desert. The recurring caption "My office" appears dozens of times — but the location is never the same twice.
Career highlights
| 2024 | Forbes USA — Cover shoot of Vinted CEO Thomas Plantenga (digital edition) |
| 2022 | Kilimanjaro expedition — Summited at 5,895 m via Lemosho route with full documentary film crew |
| 2019 & 2024 | Burning Man — Official photographer for Bipolar Express Art Car, Black Rock City, Nevada |
| 2015–2024 | Gumball 3000 — Official photographer ×5: Stockholm–Vegas, Riga–Mykonos, Saigon–Singapore and more. Images in official photo book. |
| ~2014 | Hvidstengruppen II — Photography credit in Danish feature film, shot in Latvia |
| 2010–2014 | Playboy Latvia — Featured photographer across all 51 issues |
| 2009 | LKFA Wedding Photographer of the Year — Latvia's leading photography association award |
The scope of the work
Zavadskis operates across an unusually broad range of disciplines. Where many photographers consolidate their identity into a single specialty, he treats each genre as a different instrument in the same orchestra — the results sound different, but the musician is unmistakably the same.
"No algorithm teaches you what one conversation in that hall can."
His client work spans Nordea Bank, JetSurf, Sportland, and bigest Latvian corporates, while his personal travel documents have taken him through Kyrgyzstan's mountains, Russia, Venice's back canals, Tanzania's craters, Miami, and across the rally routes of Europe. His aerial portfolio — built on DJI drone platforms — adds a vertical dimension to a body of work that is already relentlessly horizontal in its scope.
Selected clients & brands
| Editorial & publishing Forbes USA Gumball 3000 (Official Book) Playboy Latvia Hvidstengruppen II (Danish film) Corporate & commercial Nordea Bank Swedbank Latvia Rimi Latvia Sportland Latvia JetSurf Lido LV Riga Plaza iHome.lv Alfa (TV/Media) Akatrans Files.fm | Motorsport events Gumball 3000 — Team Qiwi / Team 55 Gumball 3000 — EvoTeam / Evotor European Speed Club (Porsche on Ice) MadWay Rally Desert Road 2018 (Dubai) Jūrmala Masters (volleyball) Music & culture Justs (Eurovision 2016 Latvia) Vestards Šimkus (pianist) Burning Man / Bipolar Express Notable subjects Thomas Plantenga (Vinted CEO) Ki Price (portrait photographer) Jānis Šmēdiņš (volleyball athlete) |
The equipment of a purist
Zavadskis has always been transparent about his tools — his stories and posts have catalogued new acquisitions and gear decisions for over a decade. His current arsenal reflects the philosophy of a photographer who refuses to settle for "good enough" at any level of the system.
He has carried this gear to extremes — shooting motorsport at shutter speeds that freeze tyres mid-spin, pointing lenses at altitude where cold air slows autofocus, and navigating wedding receptions where a missed frame is unrecoverable. "I shoot with Leica, Nikon, and Hasselblad," he wrote in a 2026 story, "— tools designed to create images that outlive their moment. Because every client deserves something iconic."
Disciplines
Commercial · Portrait · Wedding · Events · Motorsport · Travel · Food · Sport · Music · Interior · Exterior · Industrial · Kids · Aerial / Drone · Film & Video
Voice, community & digital presence
Zavadskis has maintained a photography blog since 2008 — an unusually long-form commitment in an era of short-form content — writing primarily in Latvian on gear, the economics of professional photography, and the craft of wedding work. His Instagram, active since 2011 with nearly 94,000 followers, functions as a real-time creative diary: a feed where a Forbes cover shoot sits alongside a padel court selfie, a drone test, or a three-line observation about time and memory.
His writing voice is sharp and unsentimental, yet often poetic. A 2024 reel opens: "There's a moment before the shot… silence. Then adrenaline meets focus. You realize — this isn't a lens test. It's a heartbeat test." His captions reflect a photographer who thinks seriously about photography's relationship with time, legacy, and human connection — not as abstraction, but as lived professional experience.
"There's a moment before the shot… silence. Then adrenaline meets focus. You realize — this isn't a lens test. It's a heartbeat test."
Beyond photography, he serves as Business Development Manager at Files.fm — a Latvian-founded EU cloud storage platform with over 4.3 million users, purpose-built for photographers and creative professionals. The dual role as practitioner and industry builder positions him uniquely: both making images and shaping the infrastructure that stores and distributes them.
Equipment
| Nikon Z9 · Z8 · Zf Leica Q3 · M10· M3· M-P Hasselblad 907X + CFV II 50C | DJI Mini 5 Pro (aerial) ProFoto and Godox Adobe Lightroom · Synology NAS |
Find the work
Zavadskis' portfolio spans over fourteen categories, each maintained at andreart.net. His active social presence documents both finished work and the process behind it — useful for clients, peers, and anyone tracking the evolution of a career that shows no sign of narrowing.
Online presence
andreart.net · instagram.com/zavadskis · blog.andreart.net · files.fm/zavadskis