Born in France, Matthieu Paley has traveled all over the world for National Geographic magazine. After 20 years of living in Asia, he has recently moved to Portugal. Focusing his efforts on regions that are misrepresented, he is especially committed to issues relating to diminishing cultures and the environment. Following a decade of relentlessly documenting the harsh, unforgiving life of Afghanistan’s Kyrgyz nomads, Matthieu shot his first National Geographic story in 2011/2012 titled “Stranded on the Roof of the World”. Since then, he has worked on over a dozen stories for National Geographic magazine and online edition, including global stories on food and human migration.

The recipient of numerous awards (more recently a 2017 World Press and a Photographer of the Year International Award), Matthieu has published several books of his work and his fine art images have been exhibited in galleries worldwide as well as in Museums. He regularly leads workshops for National Geographic Expeditions and Photocamp, more recently in Turkey, Mongolia, and India.

Over the course of his career, Matthieu has learned 6 languages, feeding his passion to connect with the people he meets and helping him to instill a sense of intimacy into his images.

You can follow him on his Instagram page @paleyphoto