The birth of Photoflex stems from the day in 1985 when Gene Kester was setting up to photograph a cover for Architectural Digest in a dining room overlooking San Francisco Bay.

A rod in a commercially made softbox broke as he and his partner positioned the softbox above a beautiful table laid out with classic silver and china. The two commercial photographers replaced the rod, but the new one also broke. Reluctantly they turned to a softbox Kester had constructed out of foam core and aluminum sheet metal, held together with duct tape. As they raised the homemade softbox over the expensive set, they prayed that it wouldn't break.

Photoflex debuted in a corner of Reeves' office in the Silicon Valley city of Campbell. It produced the pioneering LiteDome softbox in small, medium and large sizes, along with a connector for the strobe lights that fit into the softboxes.

"That softbox was-and still is-better than any competitive product, with stronger rods, more reflectivity, and very reasonably priced," asserts Kester, the company's chief executive officer.

Photoflex also distinguished itself from competitors with an unconditional, 30-day warranty. (Unlike other manufacturers, the company still offers the same no-questions, no-cost guarantee.)

In less than a year, sales justified the move to a larger facility in Campbell. Within a year the company had moved again, to an even bigger space in the same city.

Photoflex continued to grow rapidly and expand its product line to reflect Kester's recognition of needs in the photographic marketplace. Each new product was designed to complement previous ones.

The second product was an umbrella, introduced in 1986. Previously photographers' umbrellas had been made the same way as rain umbrellas, which meant light passed easily through the fabric. Photoflex engineered its umbrella with a white polyurethane coating on the inside, more than doubling the amount of reflected light and greatly increasing the strobe's efficiency.

"We were the first company to look at the umbrella from a photographer's standpoint," Kester notes. "We're still the only one to produce it this way. Other, less-reflective umbrellas lose F-stop during shoots, and light seeps through."

Next came the LiteDisc™ reflector in 1987 to complement Photoflex's softboxes. Like all other companies' reflectors, the LiteDisc used a single polyurethane laminate. A breakthrough in reflector design occurred in 1995, when Photoflex reengineered the LiteDisc with a proprietary, double-laminate design that significantly increased the reflectivity and longevity of the reflector.

"As the only company offering a double-laminated reflector, we sell more reflectors and diffusers than anyone else in the world," says Sharon Reeves (sister-in-law to Scott Reeves), one of the first people to join the company in 1985 and now its president.

The LitePanel™ followed in 1987, again featuring the only double-lamination for lighting panels. With two colors for the price of one, LitePanels provided the option of reflection or diffusion, as well as a shock-corded frame for quick set up and tear down. Then the LiteStand™ debuted in 1990 as a superior alternative to existing lightstands, which only supported strobes and thus bent under the weight of large softboxes. For the LiteStand, Photoflex widened the footprint, increased the strength of braced supports, and used thicker aluminum tubing to make it strong and worry-free.

Continuing sensitivity to photographers' needs resulted in small but important products such as casters. They allowed easy positioning of heavy studio lighting equipment, and safe movement of softboxes and LiteStands over power cords and backdrops.

Photoflex continues to serve the photography and digital-imaging market with newer products such as the MultiDisc 5'n1™ five-reflector system for studio and on-location photography, and the OctoDome™, an eight-sided softbox that produces brilliant, soft, wraparound lighting in versions designed both for photography and video/film. The Starlite QL™ system debuted in fall 2004 as the successor to the industry-leading Starlite 3200™, offering tungsten-balanced, continuous lighting and an innovative cooling design ideal for heat-sensitive subjects.

The company ventured into the international marketplace by joining forces with Solecta, a Swiss distributor that introduced the company's products at the 1989 Photokina show in Paris. By 1992 European sales dictated the need for a warehouse facility in Rotterdam. That facility has relocated three times to accommodate growth in sales, and today Photoflex markets its products through distributors in 51 countries worldwide.

In 1989 Photoflex moved over the nearby mountains to a larger facility in the seaside town of Santa Cruz. Within two years it outgrew that location and expanded to another in the same town. In 2000 the company traveled down Highway One to Watsonville, its sixth location in 15 years.

Today its more than 200 products include a large selection of softboxes, LiteDisc reflectors and LitePanels, LiteStands, umbrellas, backdrops, continuous lighting and softbox kits for video/film/digital, strobe and video connectors, transport cases, and accessories from softbox grids to shoe mount multiclamps.

Customer service stands out as another competitive advantage. Photoflex provides technical support for all of its products to distributors, retailers, and consumers via phone, email, fax, and face-to-face visits. When appropriate, its staff goes on location to help customers set up properly lighted studios. The company website (www.photoflex.com) also offers a wealth of information.

As its dramatic growth continued, Photoflex sought out new markets in video and film as well as the rapidly developing field of digital imaging.

Introduced in 1996, the SilverDome nxt™ softbox and Starlite 3200 tungsten light quickly found acceptance in the video and film marketplace, and were offered as a kit that included connectors, lamps, LiteStands, and casters. The kit has also proved valuable to digital photographers, and ranks as one of the best-selling digital photography lighting kits in the U.S.

The SilverDome delivers maximum light output and soft, even, natural lighting, with a proprietary Brimstone™ fabric that makes the unit heat resistant and extremely durable. A removable diffusion face and baffle enable users to go from sharp contrast to buttery-soft lighting within seconds.

When used with a softbox such as the SilverDome, the Starlite provides continuous, brilliant lighting for heat-sensitive subjects that would otherwise wilt under ordinary hot lights. The durable Starlite also uses much less energy and costs considerably less than strobe lighting.

The FlexDrop2™ serves both the digital-imaging and digital-video markets as a reversible, chroma-key blue/green backdrop. Its superior matte-finish fabric prevents shoot-through, and the colors don't reflect onto subjects, both of which enable better control of background image.

Photoflex has continued its expansion into video and film with products such as the CineDome pro™, MovieDome™, and ActionDome ENG™.

The CineDome pro is a softbox with a narrower and deeper profile that maximizes the light projection of Fresnel lights and dramatically reduces hot spots. Easily handling most major-brand lighting fixtures of up to 2000 watts, it ensures maximum control of light source and creates even, beautiful lighting.

MovieDome softboxes accommodate large, open-faced lights of up to 6000 watts. They are vented to cool hot lights and keep the lights a safe distance from the highly reflective Brimstone fabric.

The ActionDome ENG supports electronic newsgathering and other video recording activities. Adjustable ENG hardware mounts on almost all on-camera video lights, and includes a removable diffusion face which allows users to switch quickly from soft to hard light.

Among the honors earned by Photoflex products over the years are Professional Photographer magazine's annual Hot1 awards, presented in 1999 for the Starlite, and in 2001 for the MultiDisc 5'n1 and the OctoDome.

Photoflex's support of traditional and digital photography led to the creation in 1998 of a subsidiary enterprise, the Web Photo School (www.webphotoschool.com). The online school offers more than 250 easy, step-by-step photography and digital-imaging lessons for all levels of photographers. Taught by leading photo industry professionals, WPS lessons provide instant and practical online learning, with subjects ranging from basic lighting to advanced computer imaging. In 2005 the company expanded its Web presence with Photoflex Lighting School (www.photoflexlightingschool.com) as a resource for free online photography lessons, also aimed at photographers from beginning amateur to seasoned pro.

Photoflex was started by photographers who used its lighting tools almost every day. In serving the worldwide photography, video, film, and digital-imaging industries, it remains the only lighting-products company with professional photographers in key positions.

"We'll never market a product that we wouldn't use ourselves or sell to our friends," Reeves states. "We've built our reputation on quality, innovation and price, and we intend to honor that commitment to consumers, dealers, and distributors in the years to come."