Early fall: while the tables are still outside
September and early October are a bonus month of summer that nobody planned for.
- The last table outside Sit at an outdoor café table or on a bench for a full quarter of an hour on a day that's just about warm enough. Mark it as the last of the year, and be wrong if you're lucky.
- Walk in the best light of the year Low sun, clear air, long shadows from mid-afternoon on: walk two miles between three and five and notice how differently the same streets look compared to July.
- A horse chestnut in hand Find a freshly fallen horse chestnut, shell split open, the nut still glossy. Hold it in your palm and photograph it. It will dull within a week.
- Fly a kite A park, an open field, a cheap kite. It's an adult activity if you decide it is, and fall is when most people have forgotten that kites exist.
- Windfalls under the tree Find an apple tree, a public one or one hanging over a fence, with fallen fruit in the grass. Photograph the windfalls, and leave them unless you know whose they are.
Mid fall: color
This is the stretch everyone means when they say fall. It lasts a few weeks and moves south by the day.
- A quarter of the frame red Photograph a scene where red is at least a quarter of what you see: maples, Virginia creeper on a wall, a hedge turning. Harder in town than you'd think.
- The half-and-half leaf Find a leaf that's half green and half turned, still on the tree or just down. One leaf, in focus, nothing else.
- Make the leaves rustle Find a stretch of dry fallen leaves and walk through it slowly enough to hear every step. Children do this without being told; adults need permission.
- Rosehips, not roses The roses are gone; the hips are red and glossy on the same bushes. Find them in a park, a hedgerow or a front yard.
- The orange only fall manages Not pumpkin orange, which is bought. Tree orange, which is free and gone in a week or two. Find the strongest one on your route and photograph it.
- Pumpkins by the stack Somewhere near you a market or a storefront has pumpkins piled up for sale. The stack is the photo, not the single one you take home.
- Four thousand steps in falling leaves A two-mile walk, roughly, on a day when the leaves are actually coming down. Count it on your phone and go the long way.
Late fall: fog and short evenings
By November the color is mostly on the ground and the mornings have fog in them. This is the quieter, better half of the season.
- How far can you see? In fog, pick the farthest thing you can still make out, then walk to it. When you get there, pick the next one.
- Two minutes of sounds you can't see Stand still in fog for two minutes and count the sounds whose source you can't see: a train, a dog, a door. It's a short list that feels long.
- The tower cut off at the top Photograph a tall building, a church spire or a mast whose top has disappeared into fog.
- Watch the light leave earlier Be outside between five and seven in the evening once a week through October and November and notice how much earlier it gets dark each time.
- The leaf that left a print After the leaves are swept, some leave a stained outline on the sidewalk or a step. Find one; the leaf is gone, the print stayed.
- Only the veins are left Among the rotting leaves in late November are a few decayed down to their network of veins. Find one and photograph it against something plain.
- A fog valley from above If there's any high ground near you, go up on a foggy morning. Sometimes the fog stays in the valley and you stand above it in sun.
Three fall walks by time of day
| Time | Walk | What to look for |
|---|
| Seven to nine in the morning | A mile along any water | Mist on the surface, the first fallen leaves floating, your own breath by late October |
| Eleven to three | The park or the oldest streets in town | Midday fall light on brick and stone; a single leaf on the ground worth photographing |
| An hour before sunset | Anywhere with a view west | The sundown itself, earlier every week; the pile of swept leaves someone made that afternoon |
If you'd rather be handed the season
Lists like this have a built-in flaw: by the time you read them, the week they describe may have passed. RLQuest works differently. Every morning it picks three to ten quests from a library of more than 2,700, and it knows what season it is and what the sky is doing today. In fall that means quests like the horse chestnut in your hand, four thousand steps in falling leaves, a quarter of the frame red, or being outside between five and seven while the light leaves earlier. The app checks the photo, the steps or the recorded route, and every walk uncovers new tiles on a hexagon map of your own town.
It's free to download for iPhone and Android; a Premium subscription adds more quests per day. The list above belongs to the season, not to the app.
