Photographer Ute-Christin Cowan is a huge fan of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. To honor the show’s seventeenth season, Cowan, who moved to Milford, CT, from Germany 17 years ago, decided to salute the 61-year-old television host with a cake smash.

Cowan, who faced some hurdles as she adjusted to her new home in the US, found solace in the daytime talk show and especially its host. “She got me through everything from living in a new country, to going through college, finding a job, having two kids, and now being self-employed,” she told BabyGaga.

Cowan, who grew up in East Germany, says that as a child color film was too expensive, so she began taking photographs in black and white. As a teenager, she began following boy bands, photographing them and selling the pictures. She eventually made her way to the U.S. as an au pair at 23. She soon met the man she would marry. In 2010, she started her photography business and a year later, her daughter Maya was born, followed by her son Felix in 2015.

Despite having assimilated into life in a new country, she still remembers how watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show helped her feel less alone when she first arrived in the US. "Being a child photographer and a huge Ellen fan, I've always wanted to do something special to honor my little obsession," Cowan told POPSUGAR. "It's always good to remind people to be kind to one another, especially these days. It took a few months of planning this out, but I love how the photoshoot really came together."

The photographer, who says Ellen’s “positivity was a pickup when I needed one and a shared laugh when I wanted to cry,” recruited one of her former subjects, a young girl named Ariella whom she had photographed as a newborn, to create the epic shoot. The result was an Ellen-themed setting, DJ tWitch spinning records, colorful balloons, and an Ellen Funko Pop toy overseeing the festivities.

According to Cowan, her cake smash star, Ariella, had the blondest hair she’s ever seen on a newborn baby, which inspired her to feature the tot in her tribute to the famously blonde television host. The young girl, who turned one at the end of August, was the right age for the photographer’s cake smash, however, the cake itself didn’t interest her much. The little girl was more taken with DJ tWitch. She kept crawling off the shoot set but when Cowan played the Ellen theme song, Ariella brightened and got ready for her close-up.

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Cowan has photographed a number of cake smashes before, including Elmo, Unicorn and Disney-themed shoots. Her Ellen cake smash, however, will likely be her most memorable. “I thought it would be a fun way to show off my love for her and the show. I also think it is a great time to remind people to be kind to one another. Kindness is so much needed these days,” she says.