Photographer Caleb Charland is working on a creative project where he is experimenting with unique and bizarre sources for generating electricity. His style of creating alternative batteries is truly unique.

He harnesses apples, vinegar, oranges, lemons and even coins for alternative batteries. After he's done kindling with science, he goes back to being a photographer and clicks long exposure photographs of his experiments.





























Although I am not the best person to explain the science behind this project, but I will try. Here's how it works:

Charland used zinc-coated galvanized nails that were inserted in 300 apples. Apples contain acid and when zinc reacts with acid, it generates electricity. To be able to transfer this electricity from apple to the lamp, he used copper wires, that passed the current from apples to a regular living room lamp. A set of 10 apples can generate 5 volts, so he used 30 groups of apples (10 in each group) to be able to light a lamp.

You can imagine that it must be one hell of a tedious task to wire 300 apples, while keeping in mind the time taken to be able to have the perfect lighting for that perfect shot. It took Charland 11 hours to have the entire setup ready for the photograph, and another 4 hours for exposure for the photograph.

Have a look at this video to see the work on progress:




Here's what Charland shared about his project with Discover Magazine:

"I began installing the work at 9 in the morning. I had no frame of reference for how long the process would actually take. I didn't want to start too early fearing I would get done too soon and potentially wear out the "batteries" before I could start my photographic exposure, thus wasting a lot of time and fruit. I worked all day and took no break, I was still wiring the orchard after sunset. I finished install at 8 pm then began my 4 hour exposure on photographic film. The final image was created using a large format camera that uses color film measuring 4x5 inches."

Fruit Battery Still Life

Vinegar Battery

Coin Battery

Charland is a Portland based photographer from Maine, he is known for his experiments that do not end at electricity; he is equally fascinated with fire, magnetism and vast possibilities of new experiments that can be inspired from anything and everything around us.

"The human presence and artifacts of the process provide a clue to the creation of the photograph while adding to the mysterious nature of the image. My hope is that this work affirms that even within the well tested laws of science there are, and must always be, pathways to reinterpretation and discovery." he shares.

It's not surprise that his favorite quote is by Albert Einstein, here's how it goes: