Bowens International was founded as Bowens Camera Service Company, a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

repair company, in 1923 which by the 1950s had grown to be one of the largest in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 1963, the name ''Bowens International LTD.'' was registered. In June 2016 German investment firm

AURELIUS The gens Aurelia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which flourished from the third century BC to the latest period of the Empire. The first of the Aurelian gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 252 BC. From then to the ...

bought Bowens, and in July 2017, AURELIUS closed down the company, discontinuing all further operations.

Company history

Bowens

manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

d lighting equipment for

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

s. The first

flash bulb A flash is a device used in photography that produces a brief burst of light (lasting around of a second) at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. The main purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other use ...

units were produced in 1947 and in 1950 the company started to produce its first

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

studio

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

systems. Until the 1960s, studio flash systems were large and cumbersome, requiring bulky power generators to power the flash heads, connected by large cables. In 1963, Bowens invented the first electronic studio flash unit with its power source built into it. This became known as a monobloc (sometimes monolite) which is now an industry standard tool. Following this invention the company dedicated itself to the design and production of studio flash equipment, Bowens Sales & Service grew out of the Bowens Camera service company and in 1966 they made their first appearance at

photokina Photokina is a trade fair held in Europe for the photographic and imaging industries. It is the world's largest such trade fair. The first Photokina was held in Cologne, Germany, in 1950, and since 1966 it has been held biennially in Septemb ...

showing their products to the worldwide photography community and taking their first steps towards global distribution. In 1968 they produced an update to the Monobloc, The Monolite 400 and later products such as Quad, Prolite and Esprit have also proved popular amongst photographic professionals. The company produced studio flash systems and photographic accessories, designed in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and manufactured at its

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

from 2010. The main

competitor Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

s of Bowens International included Broncolor,

Profoto Profoto is a Swedish company that develops photographic flashes and other light shaping tools for professional photographers. It was founded in 1968 by Conny Dufgran and Eckhard Heine in Stockholm. History Profoto AB was founded in Stockholm ...

Elinchrom Elinchrom LTD is a Swiss company manufacturing flash equipment and light shaping tools for professional photographers. The company was founded in 1962 in Renens, Switzerland. In 2025, Elinchrom head office and logistics centre are transferred to ...

, Multiblitz, Visatec and White Lightning. The company was acquired together with Calumet in June 2016 by the German based venture capitalists Aurelius in June 2016 and then entered liquidation in July 2017 citing competitive pressures. RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP were appointed liquidators of the company on 16 August 2017. 26 staff lost their job in the UK and the factory in China was closed.

Products

Bowens offered many products, ranging from their compact flash units, to their softboxes and accessories. The Bowens S fitting remains a widely used standard for attaching modifiers to flash heads.

Litebook

In July 2008 Bowens published the first issue of ''litebook'',First issue of litebook magazine
/ref> a quarterly magazine devoted to profiling photographers and photographic studios working with Bowens lighting products.

Bowens TV

Bowens YouTube channel showed the latest news regarding the company and its products. A series of five-minute tutorials called "Hough To" (A pun on the surname of the presenter Christian Hough) show a variety of creative lighting techniques using Bowens products. A series of short videos entitled "Behind the Picture" (the company's strapline) follow photographers as they set up and work on shots.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.bowensdirect.com/ Manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Photography companies of the United Kingdom Electronics companies established in 1923 Photography in the United Kingdom Photographic lighting Camera maintenance