[7] In the mid-2000s, he spent two years documenting the Roma (Gypsy) minorities, photographing the often impoverished and discriminated peoples throughout a dozen Eastern European countries.

[20][6][21] In 2010 and 2011, he documented the First Battalion, Eighth Marines, throughout their deployment in southern Afghanistan's war-torn deserts, in collaboration with Basetrack Live.

[22][23] In Afghanistan, Gardi also experimented with using an iPhone as his primary camera, publishing a photo essay in Foreign Policy titled "The War in Hipstamatic".

[23][24] In 2011, Gardi travelled to rural KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa to document the communities who live there.

[26] Gardi's photographs accompanied an article titled "The Storm" by Luke Mogelson in the print edition of the January 25, 2021, issue.