Andrea Pistolesi is an Italian photographer, author, and documentary filmmaker whose work explores the relationship between people, culture, belief systems, and fragile environments. Born in Florence, he studied geography before beginning his professional career in photography in 1981. This academic background has shaped a long-term, research-driven approach to visual storytelling.
Over more than four decades, Andrea has worked extensively across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, producing in-depth projects focused on anthropology, religion, landscape, and the interaction between human communities and their environment. His work has been published internationally by major magazines and institutions including National Geographic, Time, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, Geo, and Travel & Leisure.
Andrea is the author of over one hundred photographic books, ranging from cultural and religious studies to long-form travel narratives. He was the sole photographer for a forty-title book series published in the United States and has collaborated with writers, researchers, and academics on multidisciplinary projects. Alongside editorial publishing, he has developed a strong fine-art practice, with exhibitions in Italy and abroad and a focus on limited-edition archival prints.
His visual language is characterized by the use of natural light, strong compositional structure, and carefully controlled post-production, employed not as an effect but as a narrative tool to reinforce atmosphere, coherence, and meaning. His work increasingly integrates photography, documentary film, aerial imagery, and sound into unified storytelling forms.
A pioneer in digital publishing, in 2010 Andrea created PadPlaces, one of the first photography-based self-publishing applications for the Apple iPad. Today his practice spans photography, documentary filmmaking, exhibitions, and books, with ongoing projects centered on water landscapes, coastal cultures, belief systems, and environmental transformation.
He is currently based between Italy and Asia.
His images are also represented by GETTY IMAGES and HEMIS
