Planning Ahead: Why Fall Shoots Set You Up for Spring Features
Marblehead kitchen designed by - Right Angle Kitchens
After years of photographing projects for architects, designers, and builders—and working alongside editors who decide what gets published—I’ve learned that the most successful features rarely happen by chance. Timing plays as big a role as design. A well-crafted project deserves to be photographed at the moment when both the light and the editorial calendar align. That moment is often the fall season.
Editors Plan Seasons Ahead
By autumn, most magazines are already shaping their spring and summer issues. Editors want projects that feel fresh, optimistic, and in step with the coming season. If your project isn’t photographed and press-ready by fall, you run the risk of missing that cycle and waiting another year.
Fall Light Mirrors Spring Light
One of the most overlooked advantages of photographing in the fall is the quality of the light. The sun sits lower in the sky than in summer, producing long, angled rays that are soft, warm, and dimensional. Exteriors glow with natural color and interiors come alive with depth and contrast.
Here’s the insider tip: fall light is remarkably similar to spring light. Both seasons offer that gentle, angled sunlight editors love because it produces images that feel timeless and approachable. By photographing in the fall, you’re essentially creating the same mood and atmosphere that editors want to publish in the spring. When those images land on an editor’s desk in December or January, they already look seasonally appropriate for the issues they’re building.
Stay Ready for Awards and Press
Most major award programs close entries in late winter. If your project hasn’t been photographed until spring, those deadlines have already passed. Fall shoots put you ahead of the curve, ensuring you have a complete set of professional images ready for award submissions, editorial pitches, and client presentations.
Avoid the Winter Gap
In New England, winter makes exterior photography nearly impossible. Snow, bare trees, and short daylight hours rarely show a project in its best light. Interiors can still be photographed, but they lack the richness and warmth of fall or spring. Shooting before winter sets in gives you a full body of work you can share confidently without waiting months for the weather to cooperate.
The Takeaway
Editors respond to projects that are distinctive, well-photographed, and timed to their production schedule. Fall is when all of those conditions overlap. The light mirrors the qualities of spring, the timing lines up with magazine calendars, and the images are ready before award deadlines close. If your goal is to have your work featured in the spring, the smart move is to plan your photography in the fall.
