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Kitchen Decor: Do You Buy Food Photography?

With the growth of food blogs and the explosion of Etsy, we're starting to see more and more artsy photos of food being sold as home decor. What do you think?

Photos of food hanging in the kitchen seems appropriate, but we usually think of old-fashioned posters or maybe a still life painting. Some photography we see is along these lines--staged and carefully arranged (like the tomatillos, directly above).

But we're also starting to see photos of cookies still on an old, spotty pan, or cakes with a slice cut out and crumbs scattered on the counter top. Messy, real-life sorts of photos. One of our favorite food bloggers, Deb of Smitten Kitchen, has started selling photos of her recipes, some of them in-progress, like a peeled squash or ramekins full of un-baked batter.

You can browse and buy them here:

Smitten Kitchen Prints

The two photos above are from Etsy:

Sweetest, $15 from ara133photography

Tomatillo, $30 from kathelesage

We're inspired by pretty pictures, but we're not sure we need to hang them on the wall. What about you?

Comments (9)

I do love Smitten Kitchen's photos, but I can't quite picture them hanging in someone's kitchen. I've got old botanical prints of fruits and vegetables in mine, so I've really got no place for modern photography.

posted by sjbreeze on 2008-09-26 11:27:27
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I agree. SK's pictures are really nice.

I'm also inspired by pretty pictures, but purchasing photos of food and hanging them on my walls?

No way. I just don't see alot of food photography as art.

Con Poulos, Ditte Isager, and Marcus Nillson are truly artists, however.

Nordljus also takes gorgeous lifestyle photos.

www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com

posted by thebitterfoodie on 2008-09-26 13:27:19
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I love food photography, and I could definitely imagine hanging some of it up at home. Sometimes, I'm tempted to make a giant freeform wall collage/assemblage piece of some of the beautiful food photos out of the glossies.

posted by OneWallKitchen on 2008-09-26 13:57:08
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Not as arty, but personal;
When on holiday, we take pictures of food stalls on markets, and we have nice collage of such enlarged pictures in our kitchen... the food is a nice subject for kitchen art, and it's always a nice conversation starter when entertaining... different countries, different foods....

Next time we will try for a nice cheese stall, as that's still "missing"....

Petra

posted by Petra from Europe on 2008-09-26 16:18:30
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Petra I love that idea!

I can't answer the question honestly though because my kitchen has very little wall space... but I don't think I'd enjoy looking at those pictures everyday. I don't like eating the same thing everyday, so why would i want to look at the same dish everyday?

We do have a vintage war poster about not wasting food hung on the wall on the way into the kitchen... it is it the "food is a weapon" poster that was featured on here a few months ago.

posted by wendy-rae on 2008-09-27 12:01:13
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I bake a LOT so I loved the first pic and actually am thinking about getting it. I am not normally into food pics on my wall but since I started blogging and realized I am an amazing BAD photo taker I see more beauty in a lovely photo.

http://luv2cooktoomuch.blogspot.com/ ">luv2cook

posted by luv2cook on 2008-09-27 15:13:57
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I love food pics :) I *am* a little biased LOL but I do like them - my husband and I have a large peppers photo in our kitchen area, and we have the candy photo (above!) in the bedroom actually :) (and thank you for featuring my photo!!) I am really drawn to bright colors, so I tend to love fruit and veggie prints, candy, cupcakes... :)

posted by ara133photography on 2008-09-28 23:49:17
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I like food photography, but I'm not sure I'd want it in my kitchen. (Except in cookbook form!)

We have this print in our kitchen, and I think it's perfect for the room.

posted by Kakugori on 2008-09-29 21:23:43
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I think food photography would go great in a kitchen, but I can't picture it elsewhere, at least not in my home. The candy sprinkles photo is more like pop art, though, and could work in an office, kids room, or boutique. The tomatillos picture is beautiful.

posted by jester on 2008-10-01 16:08:10
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