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Today, I’m raising a toast to a milestone that’s been over a decade in the making. On December 31, 2024, the United States Patent Office granted Patent No. 12,181,778 to Halumin™ – a revolutionary Open Cylindrical™ photography and video light modifier that’s bringing out the big details in the small subject game. I’m Jeremy Mason McGraw, the inventor behind Halumin, and I’m thrilled to share the wild, inspiring, and sometimes messy journey of bringing this idea to life. Buckle up – it’s a story of cardboard prototypes, late-night sewing lessons, and a whole lot of grit.
A Decade of Food Photography Challenges That Sparked Halumin
The seed for Halumin™ was planted over fifteen years ago while I was knee-deep in the world of high-end hotel and restaurant photography. As a seasoned luxury photographer, I spent countless hours on shoots, wrestling with bulky lighting setups to capture that perfect, mouth-watering shot. The problem? Time. Traditional lighting was slow, cumbersome, and often overcomplicated – especially for small subjects like food, artifacts, or products. In a Michelin star restaurant, time is a commodity often in short supply. It was important to get the shot efficiently and I kept thinking: There’s got to be a better way. That nagging thought grew into a vision: a compact, portable, handheld lighting solution that could deliver pro-grade results without the hassle. I dreamed of a single intuitive device, something that could wrap light around a subject in a unique, cylindrical way. Little did I know, this idea would one day become the Open Cylindrical™ design at the heart of Halumin.Halumin’s Cardboard Beginnings: Going Viral on TikTok
Fast forward to 2020 – the year the world slowed down, but my creativity sped up. I decided to stop dreaming and start building. Armed with nothing but cardboard, some tape, and a wild idea, I hacked together the very first Halumin™ prototype. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked! The result? A soft, even light with an edge that made my subject pop. I threw that scrappy creation into the hungry for content mouth of TikTok, and the response was electric. Photographers, hobbyists, and creators started buzzing about this weird cardboard contraption. That viral moment lit a fire under me – Halumin wasn’t just a pipe dream anymore. It was real, and it worked.Upgrading Halumin: From Cardboard to Wood Prototype
Cardboard was cool, but I needed something sturdier to test the concept fully. Enter the wood prototype. I grabbed some basic tools and built a rough-but-functional version of Halumin™. This was my first taste of using Open Cylindrical™ lighting in a handheld form, and it was a revelation. Moving the device around my subject, I could shift from soft, diffused light to dramatic, texture-enhancing light in seconds. It was fast, it was fun, and it was unlike anything I’d used in my pro photography career. That wooden Halumin wasn’t just a prototype – it was proof. Proof that my idea could simplify lighting for pros and amateurs alike. I knew I was onto something big.Crafting Halumin’s Fabric Prototype with DIY Sewing
Next up: making Halumin™ portable and practical. Cardboard and wood wouldn’t cut it for a real product, so I turned to fabric. There was just one problem – I’d never sewn a thing in my life. Undeterred, I ordered a sewing machine from Amazon, watched a few YouTube tutorials, and dove in. Picture this: me, hunched over a table at 2 a.m., fumbling with thread and fabric, trying to stitch together the first soft-sided Halumin. It wasn’t perfect (let’s just say my seams were… creative), but it worked. That first fabric prototype folded down, popped up, and delivered the same gorgeous light as its clunky predecessors. I’d cracked the portability code – and learned a new skill in the process!
Halumin’s Patent Victory: Safeguarding a Lighting Breakthrough
By December 2020, Halumin was ready for the big leagues. I filed for a patent to protect the Open Cylindrical™ design that made it so special. It was a nerve-wracking leap – patents aren’t cheap, and the process is a rollercoaster – but I knew this invention deserved it. Four years later, on December 31, 2024, that gamble paid off with Patent No. 12,181,778.From Garage to Factory: Manufacturing Halumin for the World
With the patent in motion, it was time to turn Halumin into a real product. Navigating manufacturing, like every new step of this journey was “THE hardest part” – sourcing materials, finding partners, and figuring out how to scale my DIY dream. After months of emails, phone calls, and a few sleepless nights, and LOTS of learning, a mountain of my professionally manufactured invention filled my garage. Opening that first box was surreal – my idea, once just a sketch in my head, was now a polished, professional tool ready to ship to creators everywhere.
