Matthew Donohue is an American photographer and visual storyteller whose career has moved through design, international photojournalism, documentary work, and contemporary equine photography. Born in Stamford, Connecticut, and raised largely in Delaware and Pennsylvania, Donohue developed an interest in photography as a teenager before moving to Brooklyn to study at Pratt Institute. He graduated in 2004 with a B.F.A. in Communication Arts and initially worked in advertising and graphic design before leaving the United States to pursue a more expansive creative path.

Donohue spent two years living in South Korea before relocating to Kuwait, where he taught photography and worked as a monthly columnist and photographer for Bazaar Magazine. His assignments and independent work took him throughout the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indian subcontinent, developing the documentary instincts that continue to shape his photography. Rather than approaching the camera simply as a means of recording a subject, Donohue has described photography as a way of exploring people, places, and experience, an outlook formed during years of travel and journalistic work.

After returning to the United States, his work increasingly centered on two subjects with strong personal connections: horses and sailing. Growing up near the horse country of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Donohue had been around horses from an early age, and his eventual return to the equestrian world brought that background together with years of photographic experience. His equine work encompasses horse racing, polo, and other competitive disciplines, with an emphasis on the physicality of the horse, the relationship between horse and rider, and moments that unfold beyond the obvious action of competition. His sailing photography similarly places him inside the experience, including work made aboard offshore races such as the Newport Bermuda Race, Block Island races, and the Around Long Island Regatta.

Donohue’s photography has appeared in publications and organizations including The Competitive Equestrian, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, the United States Polo Association, The Miami Herald, The News Journal, Bazaar Magazine in Kuwait, and other international publications. His work has also been exhibited in the United States and abroad, and he has taught photography and video storytelling at the graduate level. Across documentary, equestrian, and sporting subjects, his practice remains grounded in observation and timing, using the camera to capture not only what happened, but the character and atmosphere surrounding the moment. ×