Photography

I have sixteen photo galleries containing 800+ adventure travel-related photos. I’ve shot these on various trips and projects, ranging from ski mountaineering in Iran, solo ski touring through the Balkans, documenting the life of a hunter-herder in Tajikistan, paddling down Siberian rivers, and visits to some of Central Asia’s mountains and deserts.

All of my photographs are available to license for any commercial purpose. If you’re after imagery, please e-mail me at info@matthewtraver.com.

My photography has been published in the following outlets:

Russia Beyond the Headlines logo.
Men's Running black text logo.
The New York Times logo.
Alpinist Magazine's logo.
ExplorersWeb online adventure news outlet logo.
Love Nature's logo with multiple colours and textures.
Russian Life logo in blue text.
Sidetracked Magazine logo in black and white.
Ripcord Adventure Journal logo in red, black and white.
Trek & Mountain Magazine's logo.
Geographical Magazine logo in white text with black background.
Action Asia Magazine logo.

Kyzyl Kum Desert, Uzbekistan

Close portrait photo of exhausted desert runner with eyes closed.
A desert run in the Kyzyl Kum stands on a dirt track.
A portrait of a young boy curiously gazing into the camera.
A woman and child pose outside their stone-built hut in the Kyzyl Kum.

The Kyzyl Kum – meaning red sands in Turkic languages – is the 15th largest desert in the world. Divided between central Uzbekistan, northern Turkmenistan, and southern Kazakhstan, the desert is located in an Italy-sized depression and bookended by the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya rivers. Click here to see more photos of the Kyzyl Kum Desert.

Mt. Damavand, Iran

Two Afghan porters sat outside a Damavand mountain hut, smiling for the camera.
Shirin photographed on Mount Damavand, skiing uphill towards a mountain hut in Iran. A long chain of snowy mountains in background.
An early morning Mount Damavand photo, taken from a few miles away. A few houses are in the foreground and the sun is slowly creeping into the valley.
Photo of Mount Damavand in distance with five team members in foreground wearing skis on their backs and throwing funny poses.

Iran’s Mt. Damavand is the highest peak in the Middle East and also Asia’s highest volcano. Less than a few hours’ drive from Tehran – the country’s capital city – the 5,610m peak has more than a dozen routes to the summit and is a much sought after objective for skiers, trekkers and mountaineers in pursuit of the Volcanic Seven Summits. Click here to see more photos from Mt. Damavand, Iran.

The Dinaric Alps, Balkans

Kosovo mosque framed through the windshield of an abandoned car.
Wide angle shot of a limestone plateau with deep snow covered bowls.
Black and white image of Montenegro man posing with his shotgun.
Skier with heavy bag on his back coming towards camera.

Spanning 650km along the edge of the Adriatic Sea, the Dinaric Alps is a mountain range in southeastern Europe. Many of its lesser-visited corners are in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo. Click here to see more photos from the Balkans’ Dinaric Alps.

Grense Jakobselv, Norway

A red house stands alone on the sun-drenched tundra in northern Norway.
Black and white photo of the front of an abandoned house with four windows.
A survey point atop of a rock overlooking the Barents Sea.
Wide angle view of Jakobselv River's tidal bay, with Russia on the leftside.

Grense Jakobselv, a deserted Norwegian settlement on the edge of Russia’s border, possesses a little-known fact for being the most north-easterly point of mainland Europe.  Click here to see more photos from Grense Jakobselv in Arctic Norway.

East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan

A closeup photograph of a dragon fly in Kazakhstan sat on a twig.
A horse rider tows his pack animal across verdant Kazakhstan grasslands.
Black and white photo in Kazakhstan of man lassoing an oil drum for fun.
A Muslim Kazakhstan man and boy wave for the camera.

Bordering Russia to the north and China to the south, East Kazakhstan province is a land of steppe, alpine mountains and rivers. Slightly smaller in size than Italy, and with a population of fewer than 1.5 million people, this far eastern corner of Kazakhstan is an ideal place for solitude-seeking visitors. Click here to see more photos of East Kazakhstan.

Bayan-Ölgii, Mongolia

A Kazakh boy wearing a wool hat and traditional clothing holds a dombra musical instrument.
Alpamys wearing a face scarf riding on his horse and towing the pack horse behind.
A close up photo of a Kazakh boy smiling with his cheek next to his horse.
A Kazakh man with one leg crossed holds his eagle.

Mongolia’s western province of Bayan-Ölgii is famous for its hunters who use trained eagles for capturing prey. Up to 80% of the world’s eagle hunters live in the region, with the remainder in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and western China. Click here to see more photos from Bayan-Ölgii in western Mongolia.

Tuva Republic, Russia

A Tuvan musician wearing a blue traditional outfit sat next to a pine tree.
A Tuvan musician with handlebar moustache coolly leaning against his accordion.
Close up photo of a white Russian man drunkenly pointing at the camera lens.
Portrait of Tuvan teenager with short hair and red shirt, inside of his colourful yurt.

Tuva is a semi-autonomous republic in southern Siberia and borders Mongolia. It’s home to the geographical centre of Asia and also the Yenisei – Russia’s longest river. It’s a landscape of wild forests and steppe dotted with villages, semi-nomadic settlements and a vibrant throat singing and artisanal crafts making culture. Click here to see more Tuva Republic photos.

Altai Republic, Russia

A Tatar man and woman wearing traditional hates.
Altai horsemen riding on horseback ascending up a mountainside.
The alpine bowl and glacier beneath Belukha's pyramid-like face.
A group of walkers ascend over grassy hills and beneath blue skies.

Local Altaians and Russians practising Tengrisim, Pagan Slavic religions, or Burkhanism, consider the Altai Republic as Siberia’s spiritual heart. The landlocked republic shares its borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia and is home to Mt Belukha (4,506m), Siberia’s highest peak. Click here to see more Altai Republic photos, in addition to the Republic of Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Krai.

Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan

Portrait of two men fishing on a sun-kissed Pamir mountain plateau.
Black and white landscape photo of three yurts in front of moody, shadowy mountains.
A view of a remote peak with a giant snow-covered face, with a sandy desert in the foreground.
A Tajik-Kyrgyz man wearing camouflage carries a big bundle of teresken shrub on his back.

Tajikistan is the smallest country in Central Asia and is best known for its rugged, mountainous terrain. Click here to see photos from the Pamir Mountains in eastern Tajikistan and the life of Orozbek, a Kyrgyz-Tajik hunter-herder living near the border of Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor.

Saryesik-Atyrau, Kazakhstan

Black and white photo of Jamie Maddison stopping for a rest break near to an abandoned farmstead in Kazakhstan.
Desert runner Jamie pauses for a much needed rest break from running in the late summer's searing temperatures in Kazakhstan. Leaning against the car and exhausted.
Jamie Maddison on an ultra-run across the Saryesik-Atyrau Desert and passing by the remains of an abandoned Soviet-era construction project.
A Kazakh herder with a baby goat in the Saryesik-Atyrau Desert.

The Saryesik-Atyrau Desert is located between the Ili and Karatal Rivers — on the southern shores of Lake Balkhash —and formed from an ancient river delta. Despite the bleak landscape, it’s home to goitered gazelle, wild boar and saiga antelope, and Asian wild ass.  Click here to see more photos of this wild expanse through Jamie Maddison’s 70-mile run through the region.

Ust-Yurt, Kazakhstan

A rocky cliff overlooks an angled slope which leads down towards a Kazakh plateau.
A circular shaped hunting pen formed from slab rock sits on the edge of a cliff.
A black and white photo of a desert tower half cast in a sunset, with the other side in shadow.
A flat plateau of orange and white shattered rock stretches out in front of rocky towers in the Ustyurt.

The Ust-Yurt — meaning plateau in Kazakh — is a coastal desert region on the edge of the Caspian Sea, covering an area this size of Kyrgyzstan. The region sprawls out across Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and is characterised by vast salt pans and impressive sedimentary rock towers, escarpments and pinnacles. Click here to see more Ustyurt photos.

Danakil Depression, Ethiopia

An Afar girl with dreadlocks sat on a wooden bed in the open air.
A young Afar policeman with his AK-47 slung over his shoulder.
An Afar Ethiopian guide looking tough with his AK-47 slung over his shoulder.
A mother and baby camel walking through the sahel with a volcano in the background.

Over one hundred metres below sea level, northeast Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression is an otherworldly landscape of sulphur springs, smoking volcanoes and salt pans. Despite its inhospitable nature, it’s home to the Afar — an ethnic Cushitic group spanning northern Ethiopia and parts of Djibouti and Eritrea. Click here to see photos from the world’s hottest inhabited place.

Caucasus Mountains, Georgia

The multicoloured balconies of an apartment block in Batumi on Georgia's Black Sea coast.
Three men approach a cross to pray, near the shores of misty lake in southern Georgia.
A storm front mixed with mist rolls over a lake and towards a farmstead.
Night time photo of Tbilisi, Georgia housing estate blocks with dozens of apartment lights turned on.

Bordering Russia to the north and lying on the Black Sea coast, Georgia bridges a cultural and continental divide between Europe and Asia. Similar in size to Ireland, it’s a country with a diverse range of landscapes from 5000m+ alpine peaks, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli province’s rolling expanses of verdant grassland, and the Mediterranean climate of Kakheti’s wine-growing region near Azerbaijan’s border. Click here to see photos of Georgia.

Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan

A family of Wakhi nomadic herders with yaks and donkeys travel across a plateau.
Three yaks laden with sacks descend down a mountain trail in the Wakhan.
Black and white Wakhan Corridor photo of a wide valley with rocks.
Older Wakhan man with hard scarf wrapped around his head and a white beard.

Northeast Afghanistan’s Wakhan region — which also includes parts of eastern Tajikistan — is one of the country’s remotest areas. Unlike other provinces, the Wakhan has remained untouched by conflict. Its quiet mountain valleys, picturesque villages and infrequently visited network of trails makes it one of Central and South Asia’s outstanding travel destinations. Click here to see more Wakhan Corridor photos.

People

An skier with ski goggles on his head smiles for the camera.
Two Kazakhstan men with arms over each other's shoulder. One has a big swollen eye!
A young scarf selling man wearing a white scarf and red hat.
An Afghan porter wearing a blue scarf smiles for the camera.

Click here to see a collection of travel photography portraits.

Landscapes

Black and white photo of Belukha's white snow covered mountain face surrounded by dark and ominous clouds.
A fin-like tower of rock looms over a large, sloping cliff line.
Wide angle view of a crystal clear alpine lake with white, wispy cirrus clouds in the sky.
Orange and brown rock mountains covered in snow.

Click here to see a collection of landscape photography.