Matthew Thayer

Matthew Thayer is a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee who has won more than 80 awards for his photography and writing. His deadline coverage of Lahaina's devastating wildfires in 2023 and the miracle landing of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 in 1988 headlined front pages around the globe. Throughout his 44-year career as a staff photojournalist at The Maui News daily newspaper, Thayer built a reputation for capturing the imaginations of readers with unique photos and intriguing prose. His first-person essays have included what it is like to ride in an elephant race, to pick olives in Umbria, Italy, and to win $50,000 on “Wheel of Fortune.” Thayer has worked as a photo stringer for the Associated Press and has covered freelance assignments that have taken him to locations such as Ireland, Italy, California and around the state of Hawaii. Now retired from The Maui News and concentrating on freelance photography and writing, Thayer celebrates photojournalism with this blog focused on people, travel, sports, food, art, entertainment and aloha.

To contact Matthew Thayer, please email him at thayer@maui.net.

Copyright Notice: The images and stories on this website are copyrighted and cannot be legally used without permission. We ask that you respect the hard work and commitment of the photojournalist.