#matthieu paley

Farzin Yezishne, a Zoroastrian mobed (priest), performs a blessing ceremony at a home in Karachi, Pakistan. He wears a veil to protect the purity of the fire.

Kyrgyz Man From the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan

"Kyrgyz, having a pipe of opium upon his return from patrolling the Tajik border at Kotal-Djamanang-shora with his uncle. Qyzyl Qorum winter camp.

Studies from anthropologists have revealed that as many as 70% of the Kyrgyz men are addicted to opium, mostly bartered against sheep by Pashtun traders from the Baharak region in Badakhshan."

After her morning session milking the yaks, Chimi looks at me, her sister twirls in the back. 

Near the Zagastain Davaa, or Fish Tail Pass, Mongolia, 1998

Matthieu Paley, ‘Horse rider riding on ice, Lake Baikal’

Matthieu Paley

Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, has grown rapidly and in an unplanned way in recent years, as nomadic herders have left the countryside and settled on the city's outskirts, in districts such as Dari Ekh. Living in gers (yurts) or simple houses, they use coal stoves for both heating and cooking. Ulaanbaatar’s air is one the world’s most polluted, especially during the cold winter months

National Geographic, 2019.