Parenting

Baby Picture With Wild Deer Proves Newborn Photos Have Jumped The Shark

by Ashley Austrew

Newborn photos have gotten pretty fancy in recent years, but a new viral photo set featuring an actual wild animal might prove we’re taking things a little bit too far.

Megan Rion of Imagine That Photography was snapping photos of a one-month-old at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Moss Bluff, Louisiana, when a Bambi look-a-like came out to play. The baby was on a hay bale surrounded by pumpkins and leaves that apparently attracted a local deer who had the munchies. She wandered out of the woods and photobombed the shoot.

According to Yahoo Parenting, the deer’s name is Maggie and she’s a regular in the area. She came out all curious about the pumpkins, and rather than picking up the baby, Rion’s assistant used an ear of corn to lure her to stay. The baby’s mom, Tiffany Gill Rogers, then took a brief video of the encounter. She shared it on YouTube where it’s since been viewed over 200,000 times. You can check it out right here:

Rion tells Yahoo Parenting that Maggie has a reputation for showing up at shoots, along with raccoons and whatever other forest animals are in the area. She says some parents even request deer photos, but “I let them know there’s no guarantee.” The deer was hand-fed as a baby and supposedly has no aversion to humans, but Rion says she always keeps a hand near the baby “because she [Maggie] is a wild animal.” Oh, okay.

The end result of Maggie’s visit is an incredibly beautiful photo, but I can’t help but be freaked out watching that huge deer tower over that tiny newborn. I mean, yes, deer are adorable, but they’re also incredibly strong animals that carry ticks and all sorts diseases. And even if your hand is near the baby, what’s that really going to do if the deer got spooked or went crazy for some reason?

I understand the desire to create these beautiful, ethereal photos of our kids. They’re only little once and childhood is so magical and wonderful. You want to capture that any way you can. It just seems like we’re going off the deep end a little bit in doing so. A quick perusal of Pinterest shows babies balled up in baskets and buckets, stuffed into tiny boxes, wearing handmade capes and crowns and wings, and sitting inside actual gourds. Now we’re incorporating real forest creatures into our photos?

Don’t get me wrong; Rion is incredibly talented and she took a beautiful photo. I just worry about people trying to recreate her photos or do their own unique take on them with disastrous results. These photos — while cool — probably won’t work out for everyone. Please just stick to the weird hats and buckets. Don’t go drop your baby into an actual bird’s nest or something while trying to get the most twee woodland creature photo ever. I promise the Instagram likes aren’t worth it.