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About me

Andrejs Zavadskis works from Riga as a Latvian photographer, educator and creative entrepreneur, and over more than twenty years his commercial, editorial, portrait, automotive, event and travel assignments have taken him to more than 50 countries.

The beginning was modest. In 2004, still an enthusiast, he photographed fireworks lighting up the sky above the Riga Radio and Television Tower and entered the picture in a competition organised by the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre without expecting much. It won first place. Born in Riga in 1984, he went on to study computer science and information technology at Riga Technical University, yet visual creativity had already become his real passion. The Riga Photo Club and Biruta Magele's International Stylists School shaped his sense of composition, lighting and working with people, and in 2008 he earned a Master Craftsman's Diploma from the Latvian Chamber of Crafts. By 2011 he was running his own photo studio in Riga.

Weddings carried his name abroad first. A British bride found his portfolio online and brought him to Britain, and in 2009 his photographs appeared on the cover of South Wales YOURWEDDING with a feature inside. That same year he won Latvia's Wedding Photographer of the Year title, taking first place in the Children, Emotions and Bride and Groom categories; in 2014 he joined the jury. Weddings remain part of his work today, and they taught him to read people and anticipate moments that cannot be repeated.

Between 2010 and 2014 he was one of the principal photographers of Playboy Latvia, helping create approximately 25 issues, including the historic cover on which singer Lauris Reiniks became the first man to appear. The work demanded exact control of studio lighting, styling, composition and communication.

Editorial portraiture brought him to Forbes USA. Between April 2024 and August 2026 his photographs were credited in at least five feature articles, beginning with Vinted chief executive Thomas Plantenga and continuing with Point Nine Capital cofounder Paweł Chudziński, CTP cofounder Remon Vos, BALFIN Group founder Samir Mane and DDN cofounder Alex Bouzari. The images also appeared in Forbes México, Česko, Italia and España, the Chudziński portrait featured in the Midas List Europe 2024 presentation, and the Remon Vos portrait entered The Forbes Collection distributed by Getty Images.

His commercial portfolio covers advertising, product, food, architecture, interiors, industry, corporate portraits, fashion, music and live events for brands such as Nike, airBaltic, LMT, Rimi, Nordea, Swedbank and Tele2; an early highlight was the airBaltic 2009 calendar, produced with the agency Base. In 2021 he photographed behind the scenes of the Danish feature film Hvidstengruppen II, partly shot in Latvia.

Motorsport tests a different discipline. He photographed the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in 2020, the illuminated Formula 1 street circuit in Singapore in 2024 and five Gumball 3000 rallies, with images in the official Gumball 3000 photo book, as well as Porsche performance cars on frozen lakes in Swedish Lapland. In 2022 he reached the 5,895-metre summit of Kilimanjaro while documenting the expedition, and in March 2025 he placed third in the Fstoppers international Critique the Community competition, "This Was Difficult!".

Teaching runs alongside the assignments: years of articles on lighting, cameras and the profession, educational videos on equipment from Nikon to Hasselblad and Leica, and in 2015 a project with Nordea and the Lejasstrazdi Family Support Centre in which children used about 50 disposable film cameras to create double exposures later exhibited in Riga.

In 2026 he launched ProPortfolio, a platform connecting photographers, videographers, models, actors, makeup artists, stylists, studios and other creative professionals, built on a lesson from countless productions: the right team can change the outcome of a project.

The cameras and the places keep changing; the curiosity that began with one frame of fireworks over Riga remains the same.

Details

AvailabilityLooking for work

ContractPerm, Freelance, Temp-Perm, Part time, Remote

LocationRiga: Latvia

Working LocationsRiga: Latvia

Skill LevelJunior, Middleweight, Senior, Director

Tagged Job TitlesPhotographer

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commercial photography, editorial photography, event photography, fashion photography, photo retouching, Photography, portrait photography, wedding photography

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Creativepool member since 26 October 2026

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Andrejs' work

Black Ice – Lake Baikal

Black Rock City – Burning Man

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