Matthieu Paley

After Matthieu’s year in the United States, he returned to France to obtain a bachelor's degree in international business with a focus on Asian affairs at the University of Le Havre. As part of his degree, he completed an internship in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was during this time that he realized international business was not what he wanted to pursue. In 1997, Matthieu changed course and enrolled in an associate degree program at Parsons School of Design in New York City to study photography.

He has lived in many countries, including his birth country of France, Asia (Hong Kong, Pakistan, Turkey), Germany, the United States, and Portugal, where he moved in 2018 with his wife, Mareile, and two sons Iluka and Timoté. He speaks fluently in French, English, and German as well as conversationally in Urdu (Hindi), Turkish and Wakhi.

Matthieu has received numerous awards, which have recently included a 2017 World Press Photo award and Pictures of the Year International award (2016). Additionally, he is a National Geographic Explorer (2020) and was accordingly awarded a grant by the National Geographic Society to document issues surrounding water pollution and spirituality in South Asia.

In 2017, he traveled with writer Paul Salopek and guided him for five weeks on his Out of Eden Walk.  Together, they crossed the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan to enter Pakistan's Karakoram mountains.

Since 2016, Matthieu’s work has begun to cover the topic of air and water pollution, specifically in South Asia. Matthieu was recently awarded a 2020 National Geographic Explorer grant to continue to document the water crisis and spirituality in south Asia.

In 2014, Matthieu worked on the project The Evolution of Diet for National Geographic Magazine, during which he visited seven self-sufficient communities to document their long-endured diets and the geographic environments that support them. This project also resulted in a seven-part Nat Geo Live video series, We Are What We Eat.

In 2001, while exploring an old branch of the Silk Road on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Matthieu encountered Afghan Kyrgyz traders and their yak caravan. In 2008, he was the first foreigner to visit the Afghan Pamir in winter, since the 1972 expedition of photographers Roland and Sabrina Michaud. He subsequently returned two times in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, Matthieu led two expeditions to the Afghan Pamir on his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine. The story was published in a 2013 in an article titled Stranded on the Roof of the World.

In 2000, Matthieu settled in Skardu, a town situated in the mountains of northern Pakistan where he taught English and worked on various media projects for the Aga Khan Foundation related to education, tourism, and culture. In 2002, Mathieu moved to Hong Kong, where he had his first son Iluka. In 2011, Matthieu moved to Turkey, where his youngest son Timoté was born. His family moved to Portugal in 2018, where they currently reside.

In 1999, Matthieu left for his first photography expedition – a self-directed, three-month long trip to Mongolia. The resulting work was published in the book, Mongolie, la route de l'horizon, in 2010.

Matthieu Paley (born May 18, 1973 in Rouen, France) is a French photographer and regular contributor for National Geographic. He is best known for his work documenting communities in the western region of the greater Himalaya: the Karakoram, the Hindukush, and the Pamir Mountains. He is most interested in documenting communities that are misrepresented and misunderstood with a particular focus on those that are isolated within geopolitically sensitive areas. More recently, he has been working on stories relating to the environment and pollution.