Carl Warner’s Food Landscapes or “Foodscapes”

At first glance, these images look like painted landscapes, including towering hills, mad sea and stormy weather in the background. However, if you look a little more closely you will see that the sea and storm were made of cabbage, in other photo trees are broccoli and the hills are baked potatoes. These aren’t paintings but true photos! Also everything you can see in the photograph is made of real food! Pictures were photographed by Carl Warner, a photographer who works in London, and who made specialty of these food landscapes or how I like to call them – ‘foodscapes‘. In recent years he has been commissioned by many advertising agencies throughout Europe to produce his distinctive images for clients in the food industry. Each scene is photographed in layers from foreground to background.

The process is very time consuming, and so the food quickly wilts under the lights. Carl originally began his career by going to art college, and thought he might become an illustrator since he had a talent for drawing. However he discovered that he really enjoyed photography as a fast and exciting medium to work in.

Carl says “I tend to draw a very conventional landscape as I need to fool the viewer into thinking it is a real scene at first glance. It is the realization of what the real ingredients are that brings a smile, and for me that’s the best part.” These images can take two or three days to build and photograph, with a couple more days spent retouching and fine tuning the images to blend all the elements together. Carl devotes a lot of time to planning each image before he starts shooting, and he spends a lot of time staring at vegetables in supermarkets, which can make him seem a little odd!















98 Replies to “Carl Warner’s Food Landscapes or “Foodscapes””

  1. I was glad to see he actually created the scenes, its not just photoshop.

    I like the broccoli trees and beach ones the best.

  2. i love all of these but mostly the bacon river with bread as rocks. nice to see someone handmake it rather than using photoshop
    thanks for posting this 1 vurdlak

    10/10 and 5 *

  3. i feel like im looking at adds for hidden valley ranch…..lol

    its cute though, im amazed at how he created these.

  4. Some degree of photoshop must have been used…

    Just look at the sky’s. The pieces of ham must have been HUGE! for them to work. I think clever photography was used for the main subject but the sky’s have been photoshopped on.

    Pretty good though.

  5. These look totally photoshopped; he’s done an awesome job!

    I wonder if he pigs out on it all after the shoot :D

  6. I wonder if this guy did those commercials for Kraft Salad Dressing… the ones where a bunch of vegetables are layed out, and they form a picture, then some salad dressing is poured and it makes a river or clourds or whatever. Heh.

  7. those are some awesome images, great eye-candy!! :D

    i wonder how big his grocery bill is………lol

  8. Brilliant…

    First thing that sprag to mind as I was viewing these pics though was my mother’s voice…

    “Dont play with your food!”

    I wonder if he copped the same thing as a kid and this is payback!!! lol

  9. I feel like I’m still tipsy from

    last night. nah ha-ha

    Your are great artist, my # 2 site

    i look at after my g mail.

    love it.

    Keep up the art work.

    you need to come down to Toronto.

    Stay true.

    DR.S

  10. These are so cool!! Like those kraft dressing commercials (if you have any clue what I’m talking about) but more realistic!!

  11. I really really really like this one…. and I would LOVE to live in MANY of them. Not the meat ones, though….. EEEEWWWW

  12. These are great pictures, even though they do have a bit of photoshop.

    See the 12th picture and the last one. You will notice these are the same landscape. Well, the bottom half part of the photograph and the background, had to be taken on a different picture and overlapped after that.

    Still these are excellent.

  13. FANTASTIC! I am a converted fan! I wish my wife could present food such nicely on the christmas table! whatever the case I sent the link to several dozen friends in France and they are all amazed. My favorite is the snow scene! Have a merry xmas and a happy and creative new year 2009!

  14. That was awesome! Even though we are only in 5th grade we really like your art work and are inspired!
    We are building clay projects out of food so this was great! Isn’t all that food expensive? Please write back! Your new best friends at Denham Oaks Elementary in Lutz, Florida! does.pasco.k12.fl.us

  15. Ursula Vernon has a couple of illustrations of unconventional veggies. Not exactly illusions, but not exactly sane, either.

    “While closely related to elephant garlic, mammoth garlic is shaggier and has much more dramatic tusks…”

    Bighorn Pears

    Mammoth Garlic

  16. I think the most brilliant use of food among these was the one where he used fillets of salmon to make the surface of the lake. The moistness of the salmon made the lake surface shimmer so realistically and the orange-pink color of salmon matching the color of a sunset on water! Brilliant! (Not to mention the natural white slanted lines salmon has that perfectly mimics the motion of the water!) Again I say, BRILLIANT!

  17. the idea is brilliant, personally I like , but it will be interesting to see something like human model from inside: broccoli looks so similar to lungs and red paprika or tomato can take place of the heart…?

  18. Legumes — a class of vegetables that includes beans, peas and lentils — are among the most versatile and nutritious foods available. Legumes are typically low in fat, contain no cholesterol, and are high in folate, potassium, iron and magnesium. They also contain beneficial fats and soluble and insoluble fiber. A good source of protein, legumes can be a healthy substitute for meat, which has more fat and cholesterol.

    If you want to add more beans and other legumes to your diet, but you aren’t clear about what’s available and how to prepare them, this guide can help.

  19. You are a Classic, who would have ever thought to do such great photos or Pictures or what ever you want to call them they are great awsome wow, i would hang those in my home, you are the best congratulation to you.

  20. Love all the veggie creations. Don’t like the meat ones……..yes I’m a vegetarian!!!! No one has to convience me that veggies are the best!

    1. HAHAHAHA i agree with the other reply, OMG this, OMG that, bleh.

      But the illusions r ORSOM!!!

      well, not illusions, masterpieces…..

    2. Like OMGGGGGGG IKR LOLLLZZZ :) LIKE OMG SO AAAAWWESUMM LIKE OMG

      P.S. Shut up; you’re annoying.

  21. wow, thats so awsome, all those animals that were killed for that meat ended up being killed so a guy can shoot a crazy photo. Will he tag them with ‘5 animals were killed in the making of these images’? I guess it doesnt matter right, theyre just animals.

  22. “wu la says:
    February 16, 2010 at 4:07 pm
    wow, thats so awsome, all those animals that were killed for that meat ended up being killed so a guy can shoot a crazy photo. Will he tag them with ‘5 animals were killed in the making of these images’? I guess it doesnt matter right, theyre just animals.”
    Well, someone is a little crazy. And yes they are JUST ANIMALS they were already dead and would have been eaten anyways… But other then that, these are amazing! This guy has a very creative mind.

  23. as an artist my view of Carl Warners work is an absolute marvelous mind at work! i am now diving into my h2o colors.May the competition or insperation begin.

  24. phenomenal!!!!! I wish I’ve had this idea!!…well I had one and I’ve produced one…far from this spectacular piece of work!!! this is a very humble example:[img][/img]

  25. These pictures r beautiful & he is amazing!!!! I would love to see more & would love to meet him!!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *