Stanford Cactus Garden Family Photos | Palo Alto, California

Stanford Cactus Garden Family Photos

Arizona Cactus Garden in Palo Alto, California

This beautiful growing family of three requested Stanford’s Arizona Cactus Garden as the beautiful backdrop for their maternity photos. I was so excited to capture these sweet moments for them in such a pretty and unique location! One advantage to this location is that it has ample shade coverage. From a photography standpoint, this means this is a good location for photography both at sunset, and even outside of Golden Hour too. The Stanford Cactus Garden is often a quiet, uncrowded location— and the surrounding park area is also large and has plenty of pretty places for photos.

I loved photographing this family right at sunset when we could see the gorgeous golden light filtering through the trees.

Another advantage of taking family photos at the Stanford Cactus Garden is that it has convenient parking on campus (there is a garage nearby) and this location is flat, so there is no hiking up hills at this location. The pathways are wide and flat, which makes it accessible for strollers and wheelchairs.

This gallery was photographed in the Fall on the Stanford Campus. We scheduled these maternity photos at the end of the second trimester of mama’s pregnancy. Please keep in mind that this photography location does require a permit, per Stanford’s request.

I love their timeless outfits! This white + neutral palette is so light and ethereal looking. Mama and daughter’s white matching dresses look great with their pretty golden hair and this sunset light! And khakis and a white button down is my favorite outfit for gentlemen to wear for their photos.

These photos were taken on a Canon 5D Mark IV and an 85mm lens. All photos were edited in Lightroom and Photoshop, by hand, with no filters or presets applied.