Fall Color Is Here for Three Weeks: Planning Your Heirloom Portrait Commissionlon
Every year, families ask me the same question as the weather starts to cool: when is the best time for fall color portraits?
In Nashville, the answer is a short one. Peak fall color usually lasts about three weeks, typically from late October to mid-November. Nature sets the schedule, and it doesn't wait for anyone. If fall color is on your wish list this year, now is the time to plan.
Heirloom is year-round. Fall color is a bonus.
An Heirloom Portrait Commission is available all year. Spring blooms, summer evenings, and quiet winter light each have their own beauty. Fall color is a limited window layered on top of that, and it's the one that fills first.
The warm tones of the season make a beautiful backdrop for family artwork, especially in homes with wood, leather, and warm neutrals. [Add a line about what you personally love about photographing families in the fall.]
How an Heirloom Portrait Commission works
Every commission follows the same four parts, so the finished artwork is planned before I ever pick up my camera.
A discovery call. We get to know each other, I learn about your family, and I answer your questions.
An in-home planning meeting. We choose the location, decide on the size of your artwork, and plan a color scheme that belongs in your home.
Your portrait experience. We meet at your family's favorite place, whether that's your own backyard, a family farm, or a park that holds your memories.
A guided cinematic design consultation. The next day or within the week, we select the final portrait that becomes the artwork we designed together.
I share more about that design process in From Portrait Experience to Your Wall.
Planning around the color
Because the window is so short, fall color dates go quickly. A few things help:
Start early. The planning meeting comes before the portrait experience, so the sooner we talk, the more dates you'll have to choose from.
Choose a place with meaning. Trees that turn at your favorite spot can be part of the story, not just the backdrop.
Plan your colors with the season. We'll choose wardrobe colors at your planning meeting that complement the leaves and the room where your artwork will hang.
Ready to plan?
If this is the year you want fall color on your wall, let's start with a conversation. Book your discovery call and we'll find the right date for your family. And if fall doesn't fit your calendar, your Heirloom Portrait Commission will be just as beautiful in any season.
Cate Connery Bury Photography is a high school senior and family portrait studio in Nashville, TN specializing in creating portrait experiences and artwork where college-bound seniors who struggle with perfectionism and comparison feel celebrated both during the experience and in the artwork we create together and come away believing that their worth isn't measured by what they've accomplished, but instead simply for who they are. The artwork we create together reminds them that their worth is there just because they are, and their parents feel joy and pride every time they walk past it on the wall. We also photograph families, creating experiences that feel polished but not stiff and artwork that makes them proud of the family they've poured their life into, see all they've accomplished, and step into whatever comes next knowing they'll be just as successful there.
