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# Andrejs Zavadskis: One Camera, Fifty Countries, No Second Takes

European photographer based in Riga, Latvia — born in 1984, shooting since 2004, five Forbes USA features behind him and a passport that keeps running out of pages.

Contents

Gumball 3000 rally — photo by Andrejs Zavadskis.

Prague, morning. A Dutch billionaire stands on a rooftop while the city skyline is arranged behind him for Forbes.

Saudi Arabia, a few months earlier. A photographer lies flat in the dust as a Dakar truck tears out of a sand cloud at 140 km/h.

Kilimanjaro, 5,895 metres. Frozen fingers, a dying battery, and summit light that will not wait for anyone.

Same man, same eyes: Andrejs Zavadskis — Latvia’s most popular photographer, and proof that a career does not need a niche to have a direction.

This is not a biography. It is a highlight reel of moments that only happen once.

# The Forbes file

Five times since 2024, Forbes USA has needed a European face — and called Riga.

Then the frames went travelling: Forbes México, Forbes Česko, Forbes Italia, Forbes España. The Remon Vos portrait sits in The Forbes Collection on Getty Images.

Fifteen minutes. A wall of handlers. One face that has to carry the whole story.

# Speed is a habit

Dakar Rally 2020 — heat, grit, trucks you see for three seconds. Formula 1 Singapore 2024 — night, neon, 300 km/h. Five Gumball 3000 rallies, with his pictures in the official Gumball 3000 photo book. Porsches sliding across frozen lakes in Swedish Lapland.

At that speed there is no second take. You are in position before the moment, or you miss it.

# Four years of Playboy

From 2010 to 2014 he was one of Playboy Latvia’s principal photographers — around 25 issues of covers, editorials and castings. In May 2014 he photographed Lauris Reiniks, the first man ever on a Playboy Latvia cover.

That is where he learned control: light, pose, expression, every detail decided. Forbes later asked for the same control in a quarter of the time.

Burning Man — photo by Andrejs Zavadskis.

# Dust storms and summits

Burning Man in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert: art cars, whiteouts, strangers who became portraits. Kilimanjaro in 2022, filmed step by step to the top. Set photography on the Danish feature Hvidstengruppen II (2021) — one still was chosen by the Latvian Ministry of Culture for its official announcement.

# The fireworks that started it

2004: fireworks over the Riga Radio and Television Tower, a compact camera, a cheap tripod — and first place in a contest of the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre.

What followed: a Riga Technical University computer science background, the Riga Photo Club, a Master Craftsman’s Diploma from the Latvian Chamber of Crafts in 2008, the cover of South Wales YOURWEDDING and Wedding Photographer of the Year from the Latvian Wedding Photographers Association (LKFA) in 2009. In March 2025, third place in the Fstoppers Critique the Community contest “This Was Difficult!”. For Latvia’s 2025 School Youth Song and Dance Festival he volunteered more than 7,000 photographs, so every child could find themselves on stage.

Andrejs Zavadskis, photographer, Riga.

# Beyond the shutter

A photo studio in Riga. A YouTube channel where gear reviews come with the original RAW files attached. A blog running since 2008. And ProPortfolio.pro — the free platform he founded for photographers, videographers, models, stylists and studios.

# Find him here

Twenty-two years on, the camera is better. The habit is the same: get there before the moment does.

About Andrejs Zavadskis — European photographer based in Riga, Latvia, working since 2004 across commercial, editorial, portrait, automotive, event and travel photography in 50+ countries. Five Forbes USA features (2024–2026). Clients include Nike, airBaltic, Rimi, Nordea, LMT, SEB, BTA and Sportland. Founder of ProPortfolio.pro.

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