Pro Photo Tips by Sarah Marino

Look Beyond “Peak” Fall Colors for Opportunities

By Sarah Marino

Nearly every “how to photograph fall colors” article I have read sets photographers up for disappointment and encourages limited thinking by emphasizing the importance of getting your timing perfect for peak fall colors and seeking out the “best” weather, light, and locations. These ideas suggest that everything needs to align to create worthwhile photography conditions. My years of experience, conversely, show that conditions are rarely optimal so cultivating a different mindset and greater adaptability can both enhance the experience of being outside during autumn and result in a more visually diverse body of work.

I do not think there is anything such as “peak fall colors.” This is because the concept of peak fall colors communicates a very limiting idea: there are only a few short days in which a region looks its very best, and if you arrive before or after those days, you will be wasting your time. The feeling of potentially missing “the best” conditions creates stress and anxiety, two emotions that are not conducive to creative thinking and can diminish the experience of being outside. The concept of peak fall color also assumes that all photographers are looking for the same thing and that there is a single definition of “best conditions.”

Autumn is a process: flowering plants go to seed, birds begin migrating, temperatures start to drop, the days become shorter, some animals prepare for hibernation, and trees move toward winter dormancy. I think it is helpful to think of photographing autumn in the same way in the sense that the season evolves slowly, often over the course of a month or two, and from the photographer’s perspective, there are opportunities all along this spectrum.

Our thinking and practices can limit our opportunities or expand them. I want to choose the practices and ideas that expand my opportunities, and I’d encourage you to do the same. By seeing autumn as a long period of transition, with equally worthy photographic opportunities throughout, we can feel less pressure to get the timing perfect and can instead be open to the opportunities present during the time of our visit.