Electric Legends: Stories Told in Glowing LED Lights

Let me clarify this first: Those are not scenes from Avatar~ the surreal images are captured by photographer Barry Underwood. And the photos are of perfectly explainable origins.

Underwood places lights in small studio dioramas or in full-scale real-life environments, creating a sort of hybrid location that is at once very real, yet fantasy-based. His work was shown recently in an exhibition called Earth Engines at The Johannson Projects gallery in Oakland, California. According to Underwood, his work is a cross-pollination of photography and theater. He introduces ideas and elements from land art, cinema and traditional painting. But what comes out of the combination is something wholly unusual and unlike any of its elements.

And of course, LED is the fundamental elements to for the photographer to achieve the fantasy only exist in the dreams. Being removable and harmless to the environment, these temporary light installations play up the natural beauty of their settings without causing any permanent changes. According to the artist, his introduction of artificial lights into a natural landscape renders the forms of the landscape abstract. Indeed, it’s easy to imagine that all of these images were completely engineered in the mind of an imaginative painter.

Glad to see LED is contributing to such large scale projects and has created such stunning scenes to amuse people~

via[WebEcoist]

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Cool LED Gadget I

The battle against darkness in the human history can be traced back to thousands years ago and the sparkles from the drillings from wood in ancient time claims the first victory in the pursuit of brightness. LED has the most advanced features over other sources such as: energy efficiency, long life, range of colors, durable, small size and design flexibility, etc. Here posted are a small collection of designs combined regular daily products and LED.

“Sun and Moon Jar” is one of my favorite gift choices. It includes a rechargeable battery and a low energy LED. When the jar is placed in direct sunlight the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. This energy is then used at night to power the LED lamp inside the jar. It also uses a standard AA rechargeable battery, which is replaceable. Now pink, orange and blue are available on the market. It is such a beautiful to see when it absorb the solar energy in the day and glow at night.

“LED Magnetic Light Mine” is a small little gadget featured 12 stalks surrounded the LED light. you could probably locate it any magnetic surfaces you need. Super handy!

“Under Cool Multi Screwdriver Gadget with LED” take into the consideration that users might need to work in the darkness and why not attach the lighting source to the already multi functional tool? LED is the absolute candidate for it due to its energy efficiency and small sizing. Wondered if Swiss Army Knives has ever thought about it?

The last little piece for today, the “LED clip” from the Korean Designer Sungho Lee. The normal LED's light parts consist of two straight legs, a plus and minus terminal pin for power supply. lee modified the form of the legs to create 'LED clips', which canbe illuminated by clipping onto batteries. Nothing is wasted here! But…since the clip is occupied by the battery, where should I use this little LED?

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Firefly LED Solar Light

The designer of Bubble head Web Camera Eric Zhang presented his new design concept Firefly LED Solar Light which was inspired by an old Chinese story that a diligent kid in an impoverished family collected a pack of fireflies as source for night study.

Each illuminant unit includes transparent shell, solar panel and battery, micro PCB board and highlight LED. Users only need to scatter the LED unit under the sunshine to absorb the energy. The LED unit will automatically glow while the environment is getting dark.

The Units are easy to maintain and have a board application, such as home decoration, travelling and as a tool to inspire kids’ imagination. Solar power combined with LED illumination, wow! That is a smart solution that our environment would really benefit from, cannot wait to see it comes to the market!

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Two good LED Interactive Designs

CELL+LED (image on the left) is designed as an indoor carpet with the LEDs fitted into the aisles to guide users’ way. Both the amount and colors of the LED and the shape of the carpet can be customized for this interactive multi-function design. Love the way how the LED beans are embedded into the weaves of the texture and functions subtly yet elegantly.
Another example of LED interactive installation. The LED-s Urban Carpet(right-hand image) is a portable interactive installation using a non-traditional user interface. The installation represents a game with a grid of lights that can be embedded as a carpet into the urban context. A pattern of lights is generated dynamically that change in real time according to pedestrians movement over the carpet. According to the designers, the aim is to create a novel urban experience that invites social interactions with the interface among different people as friends, observes or strangers. This is a more computerized design idea compared to the CELL +LED, and would definitely help generate more energy for the urban area, reminds me of the Crow Fountain of the Millennium Park, but smaller and much more portable!

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