Moorten Botanical Garden is one of Palm Springs’ best-kept secrets for portrait work — a dense, sprawling collection of cactus and desert flora tucked just a few blocks from downtown, where every path offers a different texture and shape to shoot against. For this maternity session, that variety gave us everything from spiky silhouettes to soft, sculptural curves, all in the same warm desert light.
We split the day between the garden and a stop at the Avalon Palm Springs, trading Moorten’s wild desert textures for the hotel’s cleaner, retro-modern lines and poolside glow. That contrast — untamed cactus garden versus curated midcentury hotel — gave the full gallery a lot more range than a single-location session usually allows, letting the same soft, expectant mood come through in two completely different settings.
It’s the kind of pairing we love recommending for maternity sessions in Palm Springs: one location for texture and drama, another for clean, simple backdrops that put the focus squarely on the person carrying all that anticipation.
