LED Lamp Powered by Apples

Using just apples, photographer Caleb Charland made the LEDs in this lamp light up! The photo first caught our attention from Michael Mazzeo Gallery in New York who sent it to us yesterday as part of their Christmas card. As the gallery wrote, "This may not be your typical holiday totem, but we find it quite festive nonetheless. In typical Charlandesque fashion, Caleb brightens the night with a lamp powered by... apples!"

When we reached out to Caleb to find out more, he not only shared with us his process but also a quite humorous story.

"I'd been wanting to make this image for a long time and this fall a friend offered the use of his apple orchard. The location is Newburgh, Maine. There are 30 small LED lights I bought at Radioshack wired inside the lampshade. Each LED is powered by ten apples on the trees wired in series. I shot it on an unseasonably warm night in October under full moon light, it was quite a beautiful sight to observe.

"It's funny, though, with all my planning and construction time I forgot one variable. I had set up this image in the local deer's pantry. While I was wiring up the last connections, after sunset, I started hearing what sounded like someone blowing air through their lips really hard. It was, in fact, a few deer letting me know they were close. So after 12 hours of set up, I had to stand watch for the four hours of exposure, with noise makers and an AM radio to make sure the deer didn't inadvertantly go to get a snack and get tangled in the wires."

Make sure to check out more of Caleb's other science-based creations here.

Caleb Charland website