Ever since I built the cardboard box lights last year, I’ve been itching to build something bigger and better.

I sketched out an idea of how the light would look – it’s essentially a DIY version of the type of light you get from companies like KinoFlo (salivate, salivate); complete with stand (which would cost a small truckload of cash by the time our dear Kenya Revenue Authority were through taxing an imported one).

After months of experimenting (and meeting random people who helped me with ideas along the way), I’ve finally come up with the final version below, and it works!

Sure, my version looks a bit lousy in comparison with the KinoFlo model, but you get the picture. I’ll be test running it tomorrow at my first PLUS shoot, just to see how useful it is in a photo shoot scenario.

In the meantime, I’ll post a series of bite-size posts about how the light got made (for those people who wrote to say they’d found the cardboard-box lights useful and built their own – you guys are so cool!).

This light wouldn’t exist without the help and counsel of the following people:
Najam “Chico” Qureishi from Photo Mural Gigiri, Eric Mutunga; my helpful assisstant, Kevin Wekesa; the boy-genius electrician and Kibugi Wamai; Just A Band’s sound guy. Thanks a lot, guys!