Christopher Anderson first gained recognition for his pictures in 1999 when he boarded a small wooden boat with Haitian refugees trying to sail to America. The boat, named the "Believe in God", sank in the Caribbean. In 2000 the images from that journey received the Robert Capa Gold Medal.
Anderson's early work from conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel/ Palestine earned international acclaim and awards such as two World Press Photo Awards and Magazine Photographer of the Year.
In 2004, Anderson began traveling to Venezuela to document the country under the presidency of Hugo Chávez. The resulting book, Capitolio (RM 2009) was named one of the best photographic books of 2010 at the Kassels book Festival in Germany. In 2011, Anderson made Capitolio into an app for iPhone and iPad, the first photographic book to be made into an application for such devices. His current work crosses genres, from documentary to art to portraiture of celebrities (such as Lady Gaga) and fashion.