California
Napa is a valley rather than a town, and a session here is planned around which end of it you are in. Downtown Napa, Yountville, St Helena and Calistoga are spread across thirty miles, and the character changes as you go north — flatter and more agricultural at the south end, narrower and more wooded toward Calistoga. The thing that catches people is that the vineyards are working farms, not scenery. They are private property, almost without exception, and photographing in one requires the winery’s permission. Most wineries with an events programme will arrange it and most charge a site fee; pulling over on the Silverado Trail and walking into the vines is trespassing on a crop. The second thing is the calendar. Harvest — "crush" — runs from roughly mid-August into October, and during it the wineries are working at full capacity. Access for photography narrows sharply, and the vines that turn gold and red in the photographs everyone wants do so in late October and November, after the fruit is picked.
Late October and November give the vines their autumn colour — gold, amber and red across the whole valley — with the harvest finished and the light low. Spring brings mustard flower between the rows from February into March, which is the other great window and far less known. Summer is hot, dry and gold-brown, with morning fog burning off by ten. Harvest from mid-August to October is the busiest period and the hardest for access.
The quieter of the two roads up the valley, with vineyards running to the hills on both sides. Pull-offs give the long view; the rows themselves belong to somebody.
Stone buildings, olive trees and a walkable main street. The most useful town backdrop in the valley and the one place here a session works without a winery’s permission.
Open grassland on a rise with oaks and a view down the valley — public land that looks like the private land everybody photographs, which is why it is on this list.
A river walk, a mill and brick frontages downtown. The urban option in a region that otherwise offers only agriculture, and the only location here that works after dark.
The north end of the valley, narrower and more wooded, with Mount St Helena closing the view. Twenty minutes from St Helena and a completely different landscape.
These come under the Napa Valley rate: a photographer travels out from the city at no extra charge, and the session is priced exactly as it would be in Napa Valley itself.
Only with the owner’s permission. Every vineyard in the valley is private property and a working farm, and walking into the rows from the roadside is trespassing on a crop rather than wandering into scenery. Wineries with an events programme will usually arrange access and most charge a site fee. The alternatives are the public roadside pull-offs and Alston Park in Napa, which is public land with a similar view.
Late October into November, after the harvest is finished — the colour everyone associates with Napa arrives once the fruit is off the vine, not during the picking. It runs for roughly three weeks and moves down the valley. The other great window is far less known: mustard flower blooms bright yellow between the rows from February into March, when the region is quiet and considerably cheaper.
Significantly. Crush runs from about mid-August into October, and during it the wineries are operating at capacity — access for photography narrows sharply, site fees rise, and some properties stop hosting sessions altogether. If you want the vines in autumn colour you want early November, which is after crush ends and is both easier to arrange and better looking.