From black-and-white snapshots taken with a little box camera to digital photographs capturing faraway places, Howard Axelrod has spent more than 70 years behind the lens, documenting a world he is always eager to explore.

A travel photographer who has visited 118 countries across all seven continents, Axelrod has built a collection of images that offers a glimpse into the people, landscapes and cultures that make each destination unique. Now, he is looking for opportunities to share those adventures with the community through free photography presentations at libraries, schools, senior centers, and other gatherings.

His love of photography started in an unlikely place: his father’s drug store in the 1950s.

Back then, drug stores sold cameras and film, and Axelrod, a curious kid who enjoyed tinkering and figuring out how things worked, took an interest. His father encouraged that curiosity, and that helped spark a passion that would follow him for decades.

Some of Axelrod’s earliest cameras included the Kodak Brownie, a small, box-shaped camera that used black-and-white film cartridges to produce photographs with distinctive serrated edges. Once the film was used, customers would bring it back to the drug store for processing. His father, recognizing a good business opportunity, sold customers the camera, film, and developing service in one stop.

It’s no secret that photography has come a long way since those days. Axelrod moved from fully manual cameras to newer models with automatic exposure and focusing, then eventually embraced digital photography.

After college, however, photography took a back seat while he focused on his career and family. That changed in 1998, when he and his wife, Nancy, headed to Africa for a three-week safari.

With a newly acquired digital camera, Axelrod set out to photograph the animals and landscapes around him. The trip reignited his passion, and he realized that the spark never went out. 

Since then, his photographs have appeared in 85 articles, two national magazines, a college sociology textbook, numerous newspapers, travel catalogs and online publications. While his work has found audiences in many places, he has never pursued photography for financial gain.

Instead, Axelrod makes his photographs available free of charge and without royalties, requiring only photo credit, provided no individual or organization profits from the images.

Axelrod’s goal is to document the world as it is today. As landscapes, cultures, and communities change at an unprecedented rate, his camera lets him preserve a piece of the present for others to see.

He also appreciates how technology has made photography more accessible. While smartphone cameras are remarkably capable and convenient, he notes that dedicated digital cameras offer larger sensors, allowing images to be reproduced at a much larger scale. Despite these advances, he believes understanding the science and mathematics behind photography remains important for consistently capturing good images in different conditions.

Axelrod has shared his work through in-person photography exhibits and is now exploring digital presentations. His shows can focus on a particular country, region, or theme, although Asia and Africa remain his favorite subjects.

He is available to offer presentations at no charge to senior centers, schools, libraries, and other public or private events. Axelrod can tailor a presentation to fit any occasion! 

As he approaches his 79th birthday, he has no plans to put the camera down. Travel, photography and writing remain the three passions that keep him moving, creating and curious about what lies beyond the next horizon.

After all, when there are still places to explore and stories to capture, there is always another reason to pick up the camera.