PadPlaces is an editorial imprint founded and directed by Andrea Pistolesi, dedicated to the development and publication of documentary photography books and long-term visual research projects.
Created in 2010, PadPlaces originated as an early experiment in digital publishing for photography. Over time, it has evolved into a curated editorial structure supporting author-driven projects rooted in extended fieldwork, geographical research, and cultural inquiry.
Publications released under the PadPlaces imprint focus on themes such as landscape, belief systems, cultural identity, and the relationship between human communities and their environments. Books are conceived not as isolated products, but as reference outcomes within broader documentary and artistic projects that may also include exhibitions, fine-art print series, and institutional collaborations.
PadPlaces functions as a publishing and editorial framework, ensuring coherence, continuity, and long-term vision across projects developed by Andrea Pistolesi.
About Andrea Pistolesi
Andrea Pistolesi is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on people, culture, and the relationship between human communities and their environments. His projects are developed through long-term research and combine documentary rigor with a strong authorial visual approach.
Born in Florence, Andrea studied geography before beginning his professional career in photography in 1981. This background has shaped a practice grounded in direct observation, field research, and long-term engagement with places and communities, rather than short-term or episodic production.
Over more than four decades, Andrea has developed documentary projects across Europe, the United States, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. His work has been published internationally by major magazines and cultural institutions, including National Geographic, Time, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, and Geo.
His projects generate different forms of output, including editorial publications, documentary films, books, and exhibitions. Andrea is the sole author of around one hundred photographic books, conceived as complete outcomes of long-term documentary work and developed as integral parts of his projects.
Alongside fieldwork and production, Andrea has explored alternative ways of presenting and publishing documentary work. In 2010 he founded PadPlaces, one of the first photography-based self-publishing applications for the Apple iPad, reflecting an early interest in long-form visual projects and independent publishing formats.
He currently lives and works between Italy and Asia, continuing to develop long-term documentary projects centered on cultural change and the relationship between human societies and the environments they inhabit.
His images are represented by Getty Images and Hemis.
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