Matt Payne is a fifth-generation Colorado native who knows very well the beauty of this state. He knows, having climbed the state’s highest 100 peaks between 2008 and 2018. That’s when he got serious about photography, inspiring his full-time profession today.

Nothing inspires him quite like fall.

“It’s far and away my favorite time,” says Payne, who grew up in Colorado Springs and now lives in Durango.

For the aspen colors, yes. And also for the weather — these warm days and cool nights that spur the leaves’ green-to-gold transformation. Payne loves fall for the blue skies or, perhaps even better for photography, the cloudy skies from which the season’s first snow falls. Indeed, he loves that vibrant color set against snow-capped mountains.

And the smell.

“The smell of decaying lea

See Full Page