John Colombo Photography

Jane senior portrait

2009-10-03T23:32:00.002-04:00

It was a beautiful day in Pittsburgh today. I had the pleasure of photographing Jane for her high school yearbook. The weather co-operated and we wandered around Highland park taking photos. Tomorrow, fashion Shoot in Oakland.

2009-09-11T17:45:00.001-04:00

Shepard Fairey ~
A photo I shot for the Post Gazette
during the netroots conference.

Pete Bush

2009-09-06T14:29:00.002-04:00

Pete Bush at Howlers

Lauri and Bryan's Wedding

2009-09-06T13:15:00.002-04:00

Lauri and Bryan's wedding

Birds Nest

2009-05-08T13:01:00.003-04:00

Summer is almost here and a mama bird made herself a home on my balcony. So far she's laid two eggs, one one day, and one the next. After the first day when she laid one I thought she was done. Well this morning she was sitting on the egg after being absent most if not all of the evening. When she left, there was a second egg today. I thought it all happened at once, but this is my first time getting to watch the process happen so close. I could (but wouldn't) easily reach down and touch the eggs. The nest is on the beam beneath my deck about 1 foot down. Eagerly awaiting shots of the chicks. I'm cautious about taking a photo of mama in case the click of my shutter scares her away permanently, but I may throw the telephoto lens on next time she comes back.

Natale Fashion Shoot

2009-02-06T21:46:00.002-05:00

It's been so long since I've been on my photo blog I almost forgot I had one.

Christmas came and went. I worked a bit for the Post-Gazette, shot a couple of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, did a portrait shoot or two and worked a couple of events. I've booked my first Valentines wedding and I'm shooting it at The Warhol. The above photo is Natale, shot for Jupe Boutique on Carson Street.

back to the park?

2008-11-20T00:38:00.003-05:00

I lived in Highland Park for 10 years, 13 if you count my brief stint in Morningside. I left an apartment that I was in love with, literally, to move to a busier street as I felt I was missing out on life by being back in sleepy (and gun ridden) Highland Park. Now, Highland Park has some of the most beautiful homes in the city, it's just sketchy in some parts. I've recently found another apartment there that I am in love with, it's under renovation. So my goal is to get moved in and celebrate New Years Eve in my Victorian wet dream. I will how ever miss living next door to Pho Minh, who knew I liked Vietnamese food. Maybe the brief stint out was worth it. I did grow a lot as a person and made many a new friend over here on Penn Ave. But honestly, wine tastes better in a charming hard wood floor apartment more so than in a loft...trust me on that.

Monroeville Wedding

2008-10-31T14:40:00.002-04:00

Three weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Fran and Mike's wedding in Monroeville PA. The bride had a beautiful home and the wedding was an held in the backyard on a beautiful day. I'm still finishing the final photos. Tomorrow I'm shooting my last wedding of the season on the south side at The Morning Glory Inn. Oh and Happy Halloween.
:-)

Fall

2008-10-23T23:57:00.002-04:00

Well, looks like winter is approaching and Hey, It is! Wedding season is winding down, one left on November first. Hopefully I can get some of my wedding galleries from this season up over the winter. I just happened to look out my window the other day and liked the way the light was falling.

Lisa Ferraro

2008-10-08T03:55:00.005-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of being hired to photograph international
Jazz inspirational singer Lisa Yvonne Ferraro for her Falling Water
CD release party. This is one of the many beautiful photos I got that night.
Lisa is also a beautiful person. Check her out on the web at
http://www.lisaferraro.com/

Spinning Plate

2008-09-18T20:08:00.003-04:00

I cannot believe I'm even thinking about doing this, again, moving that is. My last apartment I lived in for 10 years. I've been in my current apartment for 2 years. If my old landlord hadn't shoe horned me into an 18 month lease every year I'd most likely still be there. So why do I want to move again? Heat. My new apartment is beautiful, but the place won't heat up in the winter and winter is approaching rapidly (you didn't hear that from me). So today I went and looked at a new space at Spinning Plate Artist Lofts. And a beautiful space it is, it's just a bit on the small side, so tomorrow I need to decide what I am going to do, but am leaning towards taking it. It's a better location than where I am now across the street from Whole Foods and the Liquor store ( you didn't hear that from me either).

Penn Ave

2008-09-04T11:57:00.002-04:00

Bloomfield, Liberty Ave more specifically, is always backed up with traffic. There is a lot of construction going on right now, as with every other road and neighborhood this summer, so today I walked to the post office rather than drove. I took a few photos along the way, this one I shot on Penn Ave on my way home. I know it's been shot to death but no one ever seems to include the tile mural of the girl that my friend Laura (of Clay Penn) did.

David Lawrence Convention Center

2008-09-01T22:32:00.003-04:00

This weekend I shot the first wedding ever at the Pittsburgh Convention Center. What a challenge and and a treat. The above shot was taken the day before the ceremony as I like to scope out sites before a shoot. I need to either get some more external hard drives or burn some data off my main drive as I'm once again out of disk space. Well I have enough to run Photoshop but that's about it. Good thing the new camera I'm looking to buy only uses 15 MB per shot. :-) And the vapor wear camera I want most likely will shoot 21 MB images. Back when I first started shooting (for fun) with a digital I got 22 images on a 1 MB floppy Disk, the Sony Mavica for those of you who remember that model. I still own it, bit don't own any floppy drives.

8-8-08

2008-08-09T00:21:00.003-04:00

I forgot today was 8-8-08 but happened to be out with my camera at Sand Castle. This was the shot I took unknowingly at 8:08 PM on 8-8-08, by the way, at ISO 800 at F8.
:-)
Pretty cool?

Mellon Park

2008-08-08T14:53:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I got to take my bride from Saturday's wedding to Mellon Park for a head shot shoot. This is one of my favorites so far. I still have a few gigs of data to go through. It's a nice sunny day and I'm going out to run some errands and get some sun.

Highland Park

2008-08-03T13:46:00.003-04:00

Another Saturday, another wedding, This one was in my old neighborhood, Highland Park. Congratulations to Brianna and Kyle. The reception was held at The James Center in the West End.

Liberty Avenue

2008-07-28T10:24:00.002-04:00

While walking through downtown Pittsburgh last evening, in between photo assignments, I stumbled across an abandoned book in a doorway. I assumed it had been left there by a homeless person and that it was a bible. Out of respect, I didn't touch it, but the book was clean and in good shape. When I got home I blew the image up to see what the text was on the pages that were open. It was William Shakespeare's, The Tempest, Pages 4-5 Act One scene two. I can't help but wonder about the person who left it in the doorway and why.

Sarah and Mark Wedding

2008-07-27T09:55:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the wedding of Sarah and Mark. The wedding was held at St. Cyril of Alexandria Church in Brighton Heights and the reception was at the Concordia Club in Oakland. There were about 150 friends and family in attendance. The bride wore a lovely traditional beaded bridal gown with veil. Sarah and Mark live in Virginia back came back home for their special day. The weather was perfect, maybe a bit too hot, but there was no rain. Congratulations and good luck to them and there families. I have two shoots today, one is for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Downtown, the other is for a smaller paper and the shoot is in Highland Park, My old neighborhood.

Penn and Gross

2008-07-25T13:02:00.003-04:00

I moved to Penn Avenue 2 years ago from Highland Park. I loved my old apartment but felt cut off from the city. Now I live in between Shadyside and Downtown. This street has been neglected for 50 years, however there has been a S-L-O-W revival going on. Penn Avenue is one of the longest streets in the city, it should (and will someday) be a grand boulevard. It's rich with both history and neglect. The building in the picture was a crack house when I first moved here. Lots of shady deals going on in front of it. Some out of town artists bought it and are making it into some sort of art and music venue, the land next door is going be be three townhouses, originally supposed to have been completed 2 years ago. At least it's started and I look forward to taking many more photos of this corner as the work progresses.

Soft Focus Portrait

2008-07-18T12:52:00.002-04:00

From a portrait shoot I did at Phipps Conservatory a few months ago.
Felt like re-editing it today. It's nice and sunny out. Going to take a quick
shower and run to the gym.

Cork Factory

2008-07-18T02:44:00.003-04:00

I went to a fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis at the Cork Factory Lofts tonight.

I used to hang out around this space back when it was abandoned and graffitied.

Looks much nicer now. The river in the one shot is the Allegheny.

NYC

2008-07-17T01:24:00.003-04:00

NYC Author boice-Terrel Allen, re-edited from a shoot we did in February 2008.

Megan and Tony Wedding

2008-07-13T03:28:00.003-04:00

Hi! Wedding went well. Two quick photos from shoot today.

Wedding was at Shadyside Unitarian Church, Reception at PAA.

So many wonderful photos and what a great time. Congratulations to

Megan and Tony!

Hienz Field

2008-07-12T11:56:00.003-04:00

Unidentified Woman from "Rebuilding Together" Club Noir Party at Heinz Field last night.

iPhone 2.0

2008-07-11T18:09:00.002-04:00

I woke up very early today, 7AM, which was a bummer until I realized that today was the iPhone 2.0 update. I had my coffee and clicked update a million times. It finally went through
then stopped part way. By this time everyone in the world was trying to update their phones so I kept waiting for the server to let me in. It took forever. Anyway, phone is running normally now with the new software and my favorite App is the iTunes remote, it makes my phone a remote control for my desktop iTunes. I can change the music and adjust the volume from all over my studio. Oh speaking of studio, wedding shoot tomorrow. The photo above is a test shot I did today to see what I am up against light wise. Later this evening I have a shoot for the Post-Gazette. And I'm updating my web site and my galleries. Can't wait as it's all looking good! Have a great weekend.