I spent 8 years behind cameras and production gear for shoots across Dubai and Dubai. Brands like Rolls Royce, Lanvin Paris, Celine, Piaget, and Vogue Australia. Fashion campaigns, celebrity content, beauty advertising - serious production work.
And every single time, the hardest part was not the creative. It was renting the equipment.
Beauty but Simple, with Kelly Rutherford
A beauty film for Code8 starring Kelly Rutherford, produced and edited by me. This is exactly the kind of shoot LighRent was built for.
Shot on
Every one of those pieces was rented. Body, lens, light, power and gimbal, often from three different suppliers in the same week. That is the exact friction LighRent removes.
The Work Behind LighRent
Before LighRent, I spent years on set as a producer, director and editor, working with brands, agencies and publications across fashion, beauty and lifestyle. Running real shoots, with real crews and real gear, is exactly what showed me how broken equipment rental was.
Campaigns and Commercials
Urbanica
An advertising campaign for Urbanica, featuring Static, Itai Chapman and Agam Buhbut. Directed and edited on location.
Celine
Commercial work produced for Celine, blending fashion and motion.
Behind the Scenes
How the work actually comes together on set.
Nadine Njeim for ALIF by Damas
Behind the scenes with Nadine Njeim for the launch of ALIF by Damas.
Kickoff
Behind the scenes on the Kickoff production, from setup to final shot.
Damas Jewellery x Dome
Behind the scenes from the Damas Jewellery shoot with Dome.
Editorial and Campaign Photography
A few frames from campaigns I have produced and shot, including La Beaute and Etro.
Film
LYSSA, Episode 2
A scene from LYSSA, a short film series I shot and edited.
My View on AI-Powered Management Systems
LYSSA asks a question I think about a lot. If a machine made it, who bled for it? I am not afraid of that question. I have lived on both sides of it.
For years I did the unglamorous work by hand. Chasing rental houses. Reconciling deposits. Tracking who had which piece of gear on which day. Sending the same reminder for the tenth time. None of that was creative work. It was just friction between me and the thing I actually wanted to make.
That is exactly where I believe AI belongs. Not replacing the people who create, but removing the repetitive operational weight that sits on top of them. Payouts that run themselves. Reminders that send on time. ID checks that clear in seconds. Availability that updates without a phone call. Late fees, drop-off locations, messages and invoices, all handled quietly in the background.
That is the whole idea behind LighRent as a management system. The machine does the admin. The person does the work that actually matters. I built it because I needed it, and because I never wanted another shoot held back by a spreadsheet.
The Broken Process Nobody Was Fixing
The film equipment rental industry runs on a strange mix of websites from 2010, phone calls, and WhatsApp groups. Here is what renting a camera for a weekend shoot actually looks like:
The Old Way - How Renting Equipment Actually Works
- Google "rent Sony FX3 Dubai"
- Find 3-4 rental houses with outdated websites
- Call or email each one to check availability
- Wait for someone to get back to you
- Agree on a price over the phone
- Pick it up in person with no real booking system
- Hope the deposit situation is fair
- Return it and hope they do not charge you for damage you did not cause
No marketplace. No availability info. No transparent pricing. No protection for either side. Just trust and WhatsApp messages.
I lived this for 8 years. And I watched every other filmmaker around me live it too.
The Solution - LighRent
I built LighRent to fix this. One platform where equipment owners list their gear and creators can search, compare, book, and pay - all in one place. Here is how it works.
The marketplace. Rent camera and film gear across Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Renters see real equipment with transparent daily and weekly rates in AED. No phone calls. No waiting for replies. Everything upfront.
Browse by category. Real gear near you, priced in AED.
Every listing shows the daily price, availability and ID-verified renters.
Pick your dates, send a request, and the owner approves before any payment is taken.
Pick your dates and see the full total up front, booking fee included.
Send a request. The owner approves before any payment is taken.
Built for Dubai, from Dubai Media City to Downtown and the Marina.
How LighRent Works
The LighRent Way
- Search - Find equipment by category, location, and price
- Compare - See transparent pricing, ratings, and real availability
- Book - Send a booking request with your dates
- Pay - Secure payment through Stripe with deposit protection
- Shoot - Pick up your gear, do the work
- Return - Both sides review each other. Done.
For Equipment Owners:
- List your gear in minutes with AI-powered auto-categorisation
- Dashboard to manage listings, bookings, and earnings
- Analytics showing views, bookings, and revenue per item
- Stripe Connect so you get paid directly
For Renters:
- Search by category, location, and price across Dubai and the UAE
- Map-based browsing to find gear near you
- Daily and weekly rates with transparent pricing
- Booking requests with approval system
- Messaging linked to each booking
- Deposit protection on every rental
For Rental Businesses - Enterprise
LighRent is not just a marketplace. It is also enterprise software for rental companies who want to run their business on a modern platform.
Two ways to join. List as a partner for free on commission, or use LighRent as your own rental management system with full client management, ID verification, and booking tools. Transparent, usage-based pricing with no hidden fees: ID verification, client management, and a platform fee on bookings processed through the system.
The Tech Behind It
- Frontend: React + TypeScript + Vite
- Backend: Firebase (Firestore, Auth, Cloud Functions)
- Payments: Stripe Connect with split payments in AED
- Search: Category browsing, map-based search with clustering
- AI: Automated listing enhancement - categorisation, descriptions, SEO tags
- Security: Firestore rules, rate limiting, input validation, data protection
I built every feature. No dev team. No agency. Just me understanding the problem and figuring out the solution one feature at a time.
The Failed First Attempt
I am not a developer by background. I am a filmmaker and a project manager. When I first had the idea for a rental platform, I did what most non-technical founders do - I tried to hire someone to build it.
I paid a developer. He took the money, delivered something barely functional, and disappeared. Then I tried to find a technical co-founder. I spoke to dozens of people. Everyone wanted equity but nobody wanted to actually sit down and build.
Learning to Build
At some point I stopped waiting. I realised that nobody was going to care about this problem as much as I did. The tools available today - AI-assisted development, modern frameworks, cloud infrastructure - made it possible for someone like me to learn.
So I taught myself React. Then TypeScript. Then Firebase. Then Stripe Connect. Then SEO. Then deployment pipelines.
Every week the platform got better because I was building it from the perspective of someone who actually rents equipment. I knew what the booking flow should feel like because I had been on the renting side for 8 years.
What I Am Also Building
LighRent is not my only venture. I also founded Ya Salam Dubai - a luxury concierge and experiences platform operating across Dubai, Dubai, Paris, and Cannes. Private jets, superyachts, fine dining, events, personal shopping - all on one platform.
I spent 3 years in Dubai curating VIP experiences on the ground. Same story as LighRent: I saw a broken manual process and built the tech to fix it. 25K+ Instagram followers. 10M+ video views. 5,000+ clients served.
Both platforms come from real experience. I rented the gear. I booked the yachts. I planned the itineraries. Now I am turning all of that knowledge into technology.
If You Are a Founder Reading This
Stop waiting for the perfect co-founder. Stop waiting for the right developer. Stop paying agencies to build something they do not understand.
If you know your industry - if you have spent years inside it - you already have the most valuable thing a startup needs: domain expertise. The code can be learned. The frameworks can be picked up. AI tools can accelerate you.
But understanding the actual problem from the inside? That takes years. And you already have it.
Start building.
Joshua Swain is the Founder and CEO of LighRent and Ya Salam Dubai, building marketplace platforms for industries he has worked in for over a decade.