Aspen grove, Marshall Pass, Colorado.

Autumn is by far my favorite nature photography season.  I take more pictures in the fall than any other season of the year.

Initially posted November 18, 2025. Re-posted and Most updated: December 18, 2025.

Several years ago I looked at my “most favorite photos” folder and counted the number of nature photography photos taken in each season of the year.  Here are the results.

Winter – 7%
Spring – 19%
Summer – 27%
Fall – 47%

“River of Sky”, maple trees, roadside park south of Germfask Michigan.

Early this fall I got the idea of tracking the fall season by choosing my favorite fall photos for each date. I was going to start September 23 in Colorado and end on November 17 in Iowa. Or so I thought. Then I remembered my fall in Alaska photos which began August 28 and I found fall photos in Ohio as late as December 18.

Aspen, Ohio Pass, Colorado

The peak color season, at least in my photographs, overlaps in some of these states. They are listed in the order of the first fall color photo.

Alaska:  August 28 – September 1
Colorado:  September 23 – October 29
Michigan:  October 8 – October 27
Acadia in Maine:  October 18 – October 22
Vermont: October 23
California: October 25
Ohio: October 30 – December 18
Iowa: November 4 – November 16

Most of the photos I shared are from states where I have lived and go back to regularly.  All of the Alaska, Acadia, Vermont, and California photos are from vacation trips, some of them very short.

Cut River Bridge in the Fall, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The whole fall photo series is in the posts below this one.

Caribou, Taiga, Denali National Park, Alaska. August 30, 2000.