Autumn Forest along the Neckar

Trees with colorful foliage are probably the most classic subject in autumn. However, capturing this photographically is often easier said than done, because beautiful pictures require being at the right place at the right time. And sometimes, such an opportunity arises quite unexpectedly…

Visits to the Autumn Forest

Autumn forest next to a fishing pond — Some nice spots could be found already along the way to the Neckar, like this small forest next to a fishing pond

October is considered to be the typical month of autumn, often attributed as “golden” due to the colorful leaves and usually sunny weather. In fact, however, the colors really come out only at the end of October. During the first years when I photographed, I was often disappointed when I went into the forest in October and thought to myself, “it should be really colorful now”.

It took a while to understand that different species of trees lose their leaves at different times, showing different colors. The leaf change also depends on the weather, especially how dry the summer was. And of course it depends on whether you are in the city or in the forest, in the Rhine valley or in the hills of the Odenwald. More than once, the colorful city trees motivated me to go a photographic excursion, only to find myself standing in a forest that was still completely green.

In the end, the time period when not everything is green anymore, but not too much is bare yet, is often only a few days long. Hopefully, that’s on a weekend when you have the time to go into the forest, and ideally the sun is shining, so that the colors really stand out. But as so often in landscape photography, not everything always goes together.

Trip to the Neckar

Mirror image on the Neckar river — Smooth as a mirror, the Neckar river duplicates the surrounding autumn forest

This year, the opportunity arose from a joint trip with my daughter to visit a friend in Stuttgart. From where we live, the fastest way there is actually the direct route, south through the Odenwald to the Neckar in Eberbach, and then following the river to Neckarsulm.

The Neckar valley from Heidelberg to Mosbach is one of the most scenic stretches of Germany that I know. In my eyes, it can certainly keep up with the Rhine Valley, but is by far not so overrun by tourists.

When we drove along there on the last October weekend, the mix of colors in the trees was just right: many were already yellow or orange-brown, some still green, but not many were bare yet. Only the weather did not play along, it was cloudy and gray for many days. At least it did not rain.

But the Neckar offers a few additional eye-catchers, whether by the fact that the colorful trees are reflected in the water, which was completely motionless on this day, or by the numerous, often well-preserved castles on the slopes along the river – first and foremost the excellently preserved Zwingenberg Castle.