Carl Warner Photographs Lush 'Foodscapes' Made From Vegetables, Chocolate, and More

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From the London cityscape to the Rialto Bridge in Venice, photographer Carl Warner has all your favorite travel destinations covered. In food.

In 2008, the Sunday Times published Warner’s “Mushroom Savanna,” made from portobellos. The media spotlight led to appearances on TV and in print, as well as advertising campaigns around the world. Warner is the author of two books, Carl Warner’s Food Landscapes and A World of Food. The latter is a children’s book “to alter children’s perception of food and to encourage them to develop a greater insight to healthy eating and nutritional education.”

Warner sketches his scene, then photographs each composition in layers from back to front. Photographs and ethereal lighting are added in post-production to keep the vegetables from wilting. On his website, Warner writes:

“I tend to draw a very conventional landscape using classic compositional techniques as I need to fool the viewer into thinking it is a real scene at first glance, it is the realisation that the scene is in fact made of food that brings a smile that brings a smile to the viewer, and for me that’s the best part.”

Each image takes two to three days to photograph using a combination of tungsten and flash-lighting technology. Warner spends another few days digitally editing the images.

“I’ve always enjoyed the discipline of working in the studio, and the spontaneity of working outdoors in natural light, as you never know what you’re going to get. With my ‘Foodscapes’ I can now put together the knowledge of natural light with the control of recreating it in the studio in order to bring out the colours and textures as well as the beauty of a scene.”

Click through the gallery to see Warner’s imagination at work.

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