The invitation

You have the dates picked.
Now you need somewhere to put them.

Fall sessions in Boulder County usually mean open space with a permit, or a spot you have used three years running and are a little tired of. Crowds on a Saturday. Somebody else's family wandering through your background.

This is a house I own at 6186 Sunshine Canyon Drive. It is a short-term rental most of the year, and it is available to photographers by the session on the evenings nobody has booked it.

You get the property to yourself. The cleared bench around the house, three decks, the tree line below, and indoor space if the weather turns. Shoot what you want and keep everything you make. There is no shot list and nobody standing over you.

The house normally goes out on a three-night minimum, which is not what you need. That is exactly why this is a separate conversation.

The light

Your window, September into October

The thing that actually decides whether a location works is how much usable light you get and when it ends. Here is the shooting window at this elevation across the fall, so you can build session blocks against something real instead of guessing.

September 9Early fall
7:18
September 20Shoulder
6:59
September 27Turning
6:47
October 4Peak
6:36
October 11Peak
6:25
October 18Late
6:15
3 PM5 PM7 PM9 PM

One honest caveat. Those are sunset times for Boulder. There is higher ground to the west, so direct sun leaves the deck before the published number and the dense ponderosa canopy eats it faster still. Ask me when you pick a date and I will give you the measured minute rather than the astronomical one.

Practical

What you are actually working with

The straight version, including the parts that are not flattering. You are going to find these out anyway, and better now than with eight families in the car behind you.

Getting there
About 15 minutes up Sunshine Canyon Drive from the end of Mapleton. The last mile is gravel. Any normal car handles it dry. Tell your clients so nobody is surprised.
Parking
Six to eight vehicles on a gravel turnaround. Enough for back-to-back sessions if families overlap by a few minutes.
The trees
Ponderosa pine, wall to wall. There are deciduous pockets right by the house that turn in late September. This is not an aspen grove and I am not going to pretend it is.
The ground
A cleared dirt-and-dry-grass bench around the house, pine forest falling away below. No lawn and no golden meadow. The decks and the tree line are what you work with.
Three decks
An open deck with a louvered pergola and seating for eight, a covered deck with a solid roof and an overhead heater, and a small upper balcony.
Weather
The covered deck is heated and there is indoor space. A September cell or an October cold snap moves the session, not the date. Somewhere warm for the next family to wait.
Permits
None. Private property, so no Boulder County open space permit and no ranger conversation.
Privacy
The tree line screens well at ground level, but there are neighbors on the hillside. You will not see them in your frames. You will see them from the driveway.
The basics
Real bathroom, power, and a house to change in. Not a trailhead.

Fall

Evenings that are open

The house is an active rental, so these are open as of right now and the first confirmed booking takes them. Nothing here is held. Pick the one you want and text me, and we will sort it out from there.

Best value
Text for current dates

Checkout days. The guests are gone by ten and nothing is booked that night, so the afternoon and the evening are genuinely free. It costs me nothing to hand you one, and these carry the lowest session fee.

Weeknights
Text for current dates

Monday through Thursday. Best fit for seniors, couples, engagements and brand work. School-age families can make a 4:30 start if they are coming from Boulder.

Weekends
Text for current dates

Friday through Sunday. These cost me a rental night, so they carry a higher fee and they are the ones most likely to disappear first.

How it works
Three nights, or one evening

As a rental the house has a three-night minimum, so nobody can book a single night out from under you. A session fee is the only way to get one evening here, and it is a fraction of a three-night stay.

These come off the booking calendar. Anything reserved before you get to it drops off this list on its own.

Get in touch

Come see it before
you book a session

Text me and I will send you what is actually open and what a session costs. If you would rather walk it first, I will set up a time and you can judge the place yourself. No obligation and nobody is going to pitch you.

Text Matt
Matt Shepard  ·  720-515-0218
6186 Sunshine Canyon Drive, Boulder, CO 80302
Text is faster than email if you have a question.