Newborn photographer Ute-Christin Cowan can’t take pictures of babies these days. Like most of us she’s sheltering in place in her home in Milford, Connecticut, and so are her clients.

But she loves her art and is carrying on with her craft, even if the only subjects showing up at her studio these days are take out dishes.

That’s right, she’s doing full newborn-style photoshoots for her meals and the photos are going viral.


“When you love food and are not allowed to photograph babies you help your local restaurants out and have some fun in the studio by yourself. 😂” she captioned her photos on Facebook.

Cowan tells Motherly her family loves going to restaurants, saying “but these days it is hard for us because my newborn/family business has to be closed due to the executive order through May 20—so no money is coming in. I wanted to still support our local food businesses because I want them to still be there when this is all over. I was thinking of a way to support them and also do what I like best, taking pictures!”

And so Cowan took twee little portraits of baby hot dogs from Dogtown and swaddled some bagels from Devine’s Bagels and Cafe.

“I knew I wanted the hotdog swaddled up to give Pigs in a Blanket a new meaning as well as a bun in the oven,” she tells Motherly.

She made a nest for a baby pizza from Papa’s…

And put a headband on a coffee from Bee’s Knees.

“The chips had to go in a bowl because that is how you typically eat them,” Cowan explains.

” 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. So I just added a crown. The other ideas came to me as I was going along,” she explains.

That little grilled cheese looks good enough to eat (sorry!) and so do the rest of Cowan’s subjects.

Beer is great, but she really misses her baby clients.

“My heart breaks for those new parents because I know these newborn pictures are desired by many! I miss my babies! I had 12 born since we had to shut down and I am sad I do not get to capture their typical newborn moments,” Cowan explains.

“However, I am excited to capture them once we are allowed to open back up. They will be older yes, but we will still be able to get beautiful memories!”

If this is what she can do with a shake we can’t wait to see how sweet her human babies will look through her lens.

“I am so thankful to my clients for hanging in there with me and being patient about rescheduling their sessions once we get the ok.”

The cupcakes are cute, but this donut looks a bit wiser than the average newborn.

More photos from  Ute-Christin Cowan’s food as babies series

“This is such a hard time for all of us photographers, and small non-essential businesses in general. We all appreciate all the support. Which is what led me to this special project!” says Cowan.

Thank you for supporting your local small businesses and making us smile during this tough time.