Browning is a term that has been applied to an increased flux of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems. This increased flux has been attributed to multiple factors from climate warming to decreased sulfate deposition to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Less addressed is the importance of photo-exposure to the browning phenomenon in freshwaters. It has long been recognized that differences in the photo-exposure of surface vs. deep or hypolimnetic waters can influence DOM composition and lability. Furthermore, the changing climate is contributing to longer and stronger stratification in freshwaters, potentially leading to increased variation in the photo-exposure of DOM, with surface waters having longer exposure times and hypolimnetic waters with increasingly less exposure. Here, we studied lakes that varied considerably in their duration of stratification, from polymictic ponds to holomictic and meromictic lakes to determine how photo-exposure affects DOM composition. We quantified dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and normalized concentrations to UV absorbance (SUVA) to characterize organic matter. We hypothesized that differences between the surface waters (epilimnion) and bottom waters would vary seasonally and be minimal in the springtime due to snowmelt and increased hydrological flushing in spring and mixing of polymictic and holomictic lakes. Furthermore, in late summer, surface and deepwater DOM should be more divergent, especially in strongly stratified holomictic systems and especially meromictic lakes.