About
Matthew David Nelson is a travel photographer and writer from Des Moines, Iowa. An advocate for slow, sustainable travel, he has undertaken projects in more than ten countries, primarily in the Western Balkans, India, and Nepal.
His work has been published in National Geographic Traveller Magazine, Resonate (Norway), and Get Lost! (AU), among others. His photographs have appeared in exhibitions and shows in Athens, Greece, and Berlin, Germany. He is also a freelance contributor to travel guidebooks.
Selected Travel Photography Portfolio
The April 2022 issue of National Geographic Traveller Magazine. Photo by Matthew David Nelson
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
dsm Magazine (Iowa - travel and cultural articles)
Rough Guides (UK travel guide books)
National Geographic (photographs for High Scardus Trail)
Islands (travel news writing)
Resonate (Norway) - travel tales and photo essays
Little Village Magazine (Iowa- cultural publication)
Trail Angels (Blog writing)
Medium page
My story:
I grew up in the Midwest, without really ever leaving it until I had turned 24. I had neither flown on a plane, nor seen a mountain before that age, and when I finally made the effort to change that, it ignited an addiction to the thrill of experiencing different cultures and exploring foreign countries.
While trying to preserve the most meaningful moments and memories from my first couple of trips abroad, I discovered a passion for photography. With this, I started to follow the work of other photographers, which has inspired me to keep traveling, and in turn, push myself to grow as a photographer with each new adventure.
As these passions have grown, I’ve had to adjust my lifestyle in order to maximize my ability to pursue them, and have grown in many ways because of those changes. Though I previously had never shared much about my travels other than by posting photos on Instagram with vague captions, I decided that sharing my journal could be a way to show how valuable and accessible the experience of travel can be, and to hopefully encourage anyone who needs a little nudge out of the door (or country) to go for it.
If you’d like to receive updates with each new journal entry, you can subscribe here.
“Mearcstapa” is an old English word that translates to “mark/march stepper” or “boundary walker”. In literature, it appears only in Beowulf.
“At the same time, he was vaguely aware of having arrived at the edge of a new period in his existence, an unexplored territory of himself through which he was going to have to pass”
Matthew’s guidebook writing has focused on destinations such as Peru, Nepal, the USA, and Bulgaria, as well as Solo Travel more generally, written as his latest contribution to the Rough Guides, “Travel Edit” series.
His freelance work explores destinations all over the world, and often goes in depth into the people that call these places home.
He searches for the deeper stories, the meaning that requires a look beyond the surface of things to decipher.
He is based at the moment in Prishtina, Kosovo.