Last week I wrote about why summer is a great time for family photos. Continuing the seasonal theme, I am going to spill the tea about the fall.

If summer is busy season, fall is extra busy season because everyone wants those pretty colors. Fall is one of my favorite times of year, too! Pure magic.

As I wrote last week, summer is pretty reliable in terms of weather and finding pretty foliage anywhere.

Fall in Chicagoland? It’s beautiful, but kind of weird. I am no arborist, but I do know that instead of every tree turning red at the same time and staying red for a long time, random trees turn red, stay red for about a week, and then fall off. So, I can’t predict very far in the future which places will have red and orange leaves at any given time.

Here’s my secret sauce: I keep my eyes out for random beautiful places in the days before our photo session!

These engagement photos? Many of them were taken at an ordinarily-not-super-pretty spot on the side of the road in Glen Ellyn. That best leaves happened to be there on the day their e-sesh was schedule for!

Be flexible, and don’t be afraid to go to ugly places on the side of the road instead of your favorite forest preserve! These are the fall colors that dreams are made of.