Studio Time

Just after Yule I got a call from someone asking me to do some photos of their band at rehearsal, and while I was at it would I be able to do some studio shots of them, I said I'd have to thing about it as this is something I haven;t done before and don't honestly know too much about.
So I thought it time I did a bit of research - and after having found out how much it costs just to hire equipment, let alone buy it I decided that this was something that needs a bit of practice on a small scale to get the hang of lighting things.
So this is where we go DIY, lighting stands are very expensive for what they are - abandoned microphone stands from the days when one was accumulating assorted musical gear are very cheap and easily modified (at no cost I hasten to add) to hold a flash brolly and attach a flash gun with velcro straps...of course I could have gone and bought a special adaptor which would have cost an awful lot more and would also not have stimulated any kind of creativity.
So as a result I am now mucking around with halogen table lights, bits of perspex, card and bulldog clips (after I had wrestled them from Mister Squeaky who was going out with the intention of attaching bulldogs to things) and trying to compose some macro/still life/small studio images. Now all I need is a grey card and I'll be sorted.