88-year-old photographer travels globe with her camera

At 88 years old, author and photographer Sally Foster continues to travel the world with her camera.

Foster’s journey began in 1963, when she was a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Brazil under President John F. Kennedy.

The octogenarian has been to 52 countries and is noted for her photography of wildlife like jaguars in Brazil and snow monkeys in Japan.

"Travel and photography are what I live for," Foster said.

Foster has trekked across the globe with high-end cameras and cellphones to capture the world’s most interesting animals. Her travels in 2026 alone took her to Tuscany to photograph flowers, Ecuador for exotic birds like the toucan, and Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands for jaguars. On her fourth trip to the Pantanal, Foster noted that the "Gods were with us" as she took photographs worthy of National Geographic.

With preservation in mind, Foster is also photographing golden tamarin monkeys, a species native only to Rio de Janeiro.

Sally Foster Peace Corps history

The backstory:

It was the Peace Corps that first brought Foster to Brazil in 1963, under President John F. Kennedy**,** and led by Sargent Shriver. She was part of Brazil IV, the fourth class of volunteers in Brazil, which was an all-female group that worked in health posts within favelas. With Kennedy’s call for Americans to serve their country, Foster recalled that joining was simply "something that you wanted to do."

Equipped with a camera while in Brazil, Foster became a documentarian by capturing photos of her fellow Peace Corps colleagues. Her images eventually landed on magazine covers and in brochures. Before her time in the Peace Corps, she worked for a newspaper in Washington, D.C.

Global adventures of Sally Foster

Big picture view:

Foster has lived a life full of adventure, visiting 52 countries, including Mongolia, Vietnam, Morocco, Rome and Japan, where she photographed snow monkeys. She frequently joins photography tours that bring like-minded people to extraordinary locations, like Alaska and Italy.

In addition to photography, Foster is a published author of several books, including children’s titles and a recent book about the Amish community she befriended. Though she never married, has no children and does not have much family, she shares her life with her dog, Scandal, and counts the people she meets around the world as family. When visiting Brazil, she always has a home invitation and never needs a hotel room.

Future travel plans for octogenarian

What's next:

When asked about her secret to life, the octogenarian shared: "Be interested in something. Have a reason for getting up, something that you like to do."

Foster has already booked her upcoming photography tours, which include capturing fall colors in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and photographing desert birds in Arizona. Following her trips, she enjoys returning home to the Baltimore area to process her photos and upload them to her Facebook page, each with her signature in cursive.