A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to do a portrait session with an incredibly beautiful girl. As we were taking photos, she was concerned her tattoo would be a problem. I reassured her that it wouldn't.

Additional photos from the evening are online at The AList's SmugMug gallery and at Meetup .

In the world of events - especially tradeshows in the software industry - one learns very quickly that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. If you're lucky, not everything will go wrong at the same time. The sign of success is when no one but you ever knows anything didn't go according to plan. Keys to a successful event Inventory checklist: A physical spreadsheet on which you mark each item packed once the item has been carefully packed. Having a checklist in front of you that you mark with a pencil or pen forces you to concentrate on the task at hand - this is especially important as you've done this many times before and could probably do in your sleep and accidentally miss something. I typically pack the checklist after I'm done at the top of the first box I'm going to open and reuse it when I'm repacking at the end of the event. I can quickly tell if I've lost something or run out of supplies. Event-at-a-glance cheat sheet: A physical booklet w...

Last night I went through the exercise of trying to find serial numbers on all my gear. This was not an easy task as the location of serial numbers varies from item to item. The serial numbers for the camera bodies were easy to find and in the same place for all three - at the base near the tripod screw. The serial number for the 580EX II Speedlite flash was also easy to find. On the lenses it wasn't so easy to find serial numbers. In my search on the Internet to find information on serial number locations, I came across Ken Rockwell's site . Ken has very detailed reviews of Canon lenses and includes the location of the serial number in the review. A couple - the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS and the Canon 85mm f/1.2L II USM - had serial numbers on the mating flange of the lens mount, and others like the Canon 70-300mm IS USM and the Canon 28mm f/1.8 had the serial number burnt into the black plastic. Note that older lenses have a date code (for example, my Canon 200mm f/2.8L II...

In many ways the Canon EOS 5D is very similar to the Canon EOS 30D. There are some very substantial differences - the most notable being the fact that the 5D has a full-frame sensor and doesn't apply a 1.6x magnification to all my lenses. Two other inconveniences (differences that I'll have to adapt to) are the lower maximum-frame burst speed and the increased weight. After two hours of continuous, on-the-go shooting with the 5D I found the muscle between my thumb and forefinger to be strained (I have small hands). A fellow shooter recommended getting the battery grip (I'd initially assumed that it was just for the ability to shoot longer without recharging). My next shoot will be with the battery grip (which just arrived from BH Photo, I also got one for my 30D) so I'll see if that helps. The 5D is much more forgiving than the 30D (12.8 Megapixels compared to 8.2 Megapixels) giving me a lot of data to work with in post-processing (not that I've actually had to yet)...

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to capture candid, existing-light portraits of a 3-year old with my new Canon EOS 5D. 3-year olds seem to be naturally inquisitive and expressive. Unfortunately, not knowing I had a 3-year old coming over I didn't have any Disney movies or other G-rated fun (luckily I had Harry Potter DVDs). Harry Potter and the toys his mom brought didn't interest him for long (he did enjoy Monty - the GroundWork Monitor Lizard). So how do you get a relaxed candid? Patience. 3-year olds explore their worlds and at some point they'll find something they like or or something they don't like. He discovered bubble wrap, and found he could cause a loud pop that no one objected to. Quickly he relaxed as he endeavored to pop the bubble wrap. With each victory, his smile got wider. I shot less than 35 images and of those 35 images got 2 that captured his innocent smile and the sparkle in his eyes.

I've seen many images in friends' wedding albums where "professional" photographers used flash incorrectly - by that I mean their images contained harsh, unflattering shadows. These images led me to work on my existing-light photography skills and avoid flash whenever possible. After my experience shooting the runway at Eternal Spring 2008 I decided to rethink my stance on off-camera flash photography. One of my favorite runway images was taken at the same time a fellow photographer's flash went off - we intentionally timed the shot. For my next fashion shoot - Fashion Victim 2 - I came prepared with my off-camera flash as well as diffuser. Before the runway I had the opportunity to shoot portraits of some of the models in the alley outside 111 Minna against the brick building and a mural as backdrops. I was very glad I had an off-camera flash. I also learned the importance of a slave flash and light stand. One of my favorite shots would have benefited from a di...