Adriano Fagundes was born in Starkville, Mississippi, USA and grew up in Brasília, Brazil’s capital city.  

In 1990 at 18 years old he moved to New York City with a goal to study photography at The School of Visual Arts. While attending SVA he worked as a freelance assistant to several photographers in New York, learning first hand how to apply different lighting techniques to varied styles of photography and film.  

From 1995-1998, Adriano worked as the first assistant to legendary Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort, who’d become his mentor and friend. In 1998 he started his career as a professional photographer in New York, working with a wide list of clients studio and traveling worldwide on assignments.

At the same time Adriano had a continuous gig in New York as a DJ and percussionist from 2002-2010, his “Bembe friday night therapy”.

After moving to Rio de Janeiro in 2010, he continued to work on editorials for magazines, catalogs and advertising jobs in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. All along, he continued the pursue of his decade long project documenting the people of the Amazon river, from its source in the Peruvian Andes, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil, over 6800 km down the river. In February of 2014, he publishes his first book: “Dos Andes ao Atlântico: Uma viagem pelo Rio Amazonas / From The Andes to the Atlantic: A journey down the Amazon river”, with texts by the journalist and friend Daniel Nunes Gonçalves in portuguese and english.

His following book “Legado Olímpico/ Olympic Legacy” is published in December 2016, the book shows the monumental operation to feed 25.000 athletes and delegations from over 200 countries during the RIO 2016 Olympics and Paralympics. The book is edited in portuguese, spanish and english and is published by Editora SAME SAME in São Paulo.

In December of 2019, the book “Paisagens Gastronômicas: São Paulo” is published by Editora SAME SAME in São Paulo. The book portrays a group of 35 sustainable producers in the state of São Paulo, Brazil (wine, cheeses, organic vegetables, rice, coffee, beer, fish, mushrooms…). The book was a finalist for the Jabuti Awards in Brazil in November 2020.

His latest effort, the book “VASTO MUNDO” is published in November 2021 by Editora Autêntica in Belo Horizonte. The book is a special edition, combining Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s poems from his whole literary work from 1930 to 1996 ( Drummond passed in 1987 but left 4 unpublished books ) and Adriano’s travel photographs from 1990 to 2021. It is a celebration of this timeless dialogue between poetry and photography.

In October 2019, Adriano was awarded the Lusofonia Award in Arts at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.

Adriano lives with his wife Patrícia in Lisbon since 2020 and works worldwide.