These veggie masterpieces are your argument for playing with (and photographing) your food

by Gannon Burgett

posted Friday, January 9, 2015 at 5:40 PM EDT

Whoever said you shouldn’t play with your food has never seen the artwork of Amber Locke. Founded through a ‘happy accident’ and inspired by her dietary habits, Locke uses vegetables to meticulously construct ornate patterns. Once finished, she photographs the compositions and turns them into limited-edition prints for AMBA Living, her online shop.

She – and many others – refer to it as veg-art. And it all started with a single Instagram photo that came to fruition when she placed a shopping bag full of produce on her front porch. As she gathered the rest of her groceries, the wind graciously blew in a couple of leaves amongst her veggies. Upon seeing the unintended composition, she realized it would make for an interesting photograph. The rest, as they say, is history.

One at a time she began to lay out, capture and share her veggie installations. As time went on and her follower base grew, she started receiving requests for prints. So, she took to the web and opened up a shop to start selling her limited prints in 50-piece runs. Furthermore, she’s been commissioned to do work for the likes of Jamie Oliver and Android, which have boosted her notoriety.

Further contributing to Locke’s love for food portraiture is her passion for food and nutrition. On AMBA Living she says:

I love the beauty of natural foods; their different colours, shapes, textures and characters etc. so to me, fruit and veg are not only really good for you nutritionally they also have a wonderful aesthetic appeal too. It’s a joy to use beautiful ingredients and my work aims to showcase their unique qualities.

At the moment, Locke has 8 prints up for sale on AMBA Living. The museum-quality prints sell for roughly $270 a piece (not including shipping) and come signed, hand-numbered and embossed with the AMBA logo.

Below are a collection of prints from the past and present: