Newborn Photographer Takes 'Food Baby' Pictures While Quarantined

Ute-Christin Photography started photographing her takeout the same way she does newborns to fight boredom and help local businesses

When one newborn, children, and family photographer, Ute-Christin Cowan, had to close her doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, she knew it meant no money coming in for the foreseeable future. But that didn’t stop Cowan from supporting her fellow local businesses. So, she decided to start shooting her takeout the same way she does newborns — and the result is absolute perfection.

Ute-Christin Photography is on hiatus in Milford, Conn. through May 20 because of a statewide executive order. With no newborns to photograph and a desire to keep similar small businesses going through this difficult time, Cowan had the idea of ordering food items from local restaurants, dressing them up, and posing them like newborns. And we have to say, these are the cutest food babies we’ve ever seen.

“I wanted to still support our local food businesses because I want them to still be there when this is all over,” Cowan tells Scary Mommy. “I was thinking of a way to support them and also do what I like best, taking pictures!”

Cowan said she called 13 local restaurants and ordered one signature item from their respective menus. “Some delivered and some had curbside pickup,” she said, so she and a friend split the orders in half and picked up the items that weren’t deliverable (at a sensible distance, of course).

Cowan said she took all the items into her home studio, unwrapped each one, lined them up, and came up with creative ways to dress them up.

“I knew I wanted the hotdog swaddled up to give pigs in a blanket a new meaning,” she said, “as well as a bun in the oven.” She shared the photos on her Facebook page, and they were an instant hit.

Ute said there were several items that stumped her, including everyone’s favorite grilled cheese sandwich. “The grilled cheese gave me the hardest time, but then I was like, ‘The grilled cheese is already awesome on its own, so why mess with that?'” she said. “So, I just added a crown.”

Perfection.

Our favorite has to be the Anthony Fauci donut from Donut Crazy because this man is a damn hero. He never sleeps (like most actual new moms), and he deserves All Of The Donuts featuring his face.

What an inspiration Cowan is to spend money on local businesses while being directly impacted herself. Though, the best part, she says, “was being able to eat all those things after I took their picture.”

Here’s hoping when the order is lifted, she’ll have appointments booked for months to come.