Matthieu Paley's Photography

Matthieu Paley(Born: 1973, France) is a freelance photographer based in Turkey, and a regular contributor to National Geographic. After a 3-year stint in New York, where he studied photography, Matthieu moved to Northern Pakistan in 1999. To this day, he remained in the area for over four years, trekking extensively throughout the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan while working with his wife Mareile for various NGO's and actively participating in the development of this fairly unknown regions. Mareile is a successful communications consultant for the United Nations and a passionate Pilates instructor, leading retreats all over the world with her wellness company

Over the last 17 years, Matthieu’s passion for human nature has taken him worldwide. He likes to focus his camera on regions that are misrepresented or misunderstood.

Matthieu also uses video and writing to open people’s eyes on our common humanity. He has published several books of his work (on Afghanistan’s Pamir mountains, Mongolia, Siberia and on the Evolution of Diet) and his fine-art images have been shown in solo exhibitions worldwide.

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