Photochemical reactions with the participation of iron(iii) carboxylates are important for environmental photochemistry and have a great potential of application in water purification (advanced oxidation processes, photo-Fenton and Fenton-like processes). In spite of this, information about excited states and primary intermediates in the photochemistry of Fe(iii) complexes with carboxylic acids is scarce. This mini-review presents and discusses the results of several recent publications in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy of natural Fe(iii) carboxylates.