About twenty years ago I put together my first portable light kit. It was pretty basic - one stand, one flash and a cord to connect the flash to the camera. Not long after that I added a second stand and light, a slave to fire it, and eventually a radio remote (so people would stop tripping over my flash cord). For the past fifteen years it's been pretty much the same, and it was time to overhaul it.

When I first started lighting shots I thought that the key was a lot of lights. The more you used, the better it had to look, right? I made a lot of bad pictures before I figured out that wasn't true. What I learned was that it wasn't the quantity of the light, but the quality. A little light used properly can go a long way. So in time my kit grew only slightly - three Vivitar 283's, three stands, three umbrellas, a small soft box and a set of PocketWizard Plus radio remotes. Plus miscellaneous gear like cables, gels, slaves, etc. But that kit had gotten old, and the power packs alone for the Vivitars weighed far too much and required too frequent charging.

Over the last year I've been slowly adding to my kit of strobes, and now have a bunch of Nikon Speedlights. Three that I can use in Commander mode with the pop-up flash on some of the Nikon cameras or an SU-800 Commander unit. With their five-battery configuration holding Lithiun Ion cells, they last a good long time. Then I have an old SB-26, which has a built-in slave and comes in handy for an extra light.

So I decided to replace the old Vivtars and their power packs with the Speedlights. And that meant gathering a bunch of brackets and shoes out of my old gear boxes. It's amazing the photography junk I've collected over the years, but sometimes it comes in handy. It took me one evening to sort it all out, strip down the old strobes and get the new ones set up.

As good as the Commander capability is with the Nikon Speedlights, there are times when the remote unit can's "see" the signal, so I added PocketWizard cables to all the strobes. PocketWizards work with radio signals, so they can go through windows and around corners. I also have times when there's no easy way to get a strobe where I want it, so I added two small clamps that will let me mount a strobe to anything they can grab on to. Rounding out the kit is my good old Minolta Flashmeter and various bits and pieces like gels.

So now, inside a Lowepro Pro Roller II I have four strobes, three stands, three umbrellas, one soft box, four PocketWizards, Nikon SU-Commander, two grip clamps, flash meter and various cardboard snoots, gels and other accessories.

Once finished, the kit hadn't gotten any smaller, but it was easier to work with. The smarter strobes give me new ways of working with light and fewer battery concerns, and the new clips and brackets are a pleasure to use. I always tell people that a great way to have fun with photography is to start making your own light. And all that requires is one light source and a way to trigger it off-camera. From that point on, the only limit is your imagination.