Axel Schneppat ranks among the most versatile cinematographers in Germany.

His latest documentary films include the internationally successful projectThe Cleaners (dir. Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck), which was premiered at Sundance Film Festival and the documentary feature Garage People by Natalija Yefimkina, which had its world premiere at Berlinale 2020 and received the Werner Herzog Film Award as well as a nomination for the German Documentary Award 2020. For his work as DoP for Garage People, Axel Schneppat was nominated for the German Camera Award 2021.

Havanna Mi Amor, a feature length documentary film directed by Uli Gaulke earned Axel Schneppat the German Camera Award. Other much noticed films are the documentary feature Forgetting Dad by directors Rick Minnich and Matt Sweetwood, (Special Jury Award, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), the Haim Tabakman directed feature film Eyes Wide Open which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in the Competition section and won the Grand Prize for Best Film at the Ghent International Film Festival as well as Schultze gets the Blues (dir. Michael Schorr), awarded with the Directors Prize at the Venice International Film Festival and released by Paramount Pictures in theaters around the world.

Furthermore, Schneppat was entrusted with the camera work for Jan Zabeil's feature film Drei Zinnen (Three Peaks), which had its world premiere at Locarno Film Festival. Following its German Premiere, the film received the German Cinema New Talent Award at Hof International Film Festival. 2021 saw see the release of the international coproduction and historical drama Tel Aviv-Beirut by director Michale Boganim who entrusted Axel Schneppat with the camera work. In 2022, he served as camera operator on Fatih Akin's feature film Rheingold.

Axel Schneppat studied cinematography at the University of Film and Television Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg. He is known for his unique talent for connecting with the people he films and is widely regarded as a cinematographer who achieves intimate portrayals of the protagonists without employing intrusive camerawork.