Okay a bit off topic from wedding photography but this comes up a lot, so I’m writing about it on the blog. Ladies, have you gotten your sixpence yet? You know the saying:

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

A recent bride and I had a conversation about the old poem that everyone gathers items for the wedding day. I always see the old, new, and blue, but rarely photograph the silver sixpence. If you would like to add a vintage sixpence for your wedding day they aren’t that difficult to get. Having personally spent a fair amount of time in England myself, I know that they no longer mint the original sixpence. They stopped minting it in 1967, the summer of love. Can you imagine? The coin was made of real silver and worth six pennies. The items in the poem represent a good luck tokens for the bride.   With the sixpence, it goes in the bride’s shoe representing financial security and wealth, and is supposed to be placed in the left shoe. I did a little research and found that you can buy an actual hand polished vintage Queen Elizabeth II sixpence coin dated between 1953 and 1967 for under 8 bucks here.

please note that i will be in cincinnati until monday and will be responding to inquiries and other correspondence when i get back. thank you for your patience as i enter a very busy shooting season!

To my clients, prospective clients, and friends:

I will be heading to the west coast on several shoots this week and return to shoot a wedding Saturday. I will have limited access to email and phone. I appreciate your patience!

happy new year! 2009 was my most successful year to date. i owe many thanks to my family, friends, second shooters, and clients.

2009 in review

• my first shoot of 2009 was for a model moving to dubai, followed by a shoot for cobra bluetooth wireless.
• days later, i helped a friend pack to move to kansas city, mo.
• i usually work with apple, but had gotten a few lemons, so i bought a drobo.
• harvard university built a modern, new boathouse, CRI rowing on the charles river in boston and i shot the second wedding held there.
• i went to las vegas again for high rollers weekend, a internationally renowned gathering of vespa and lambretta scooter enthusiasts.
• new orleans was so awesome in 2008, i went again.
• i went to niagara for a scooter rally and slept in a tent during a 35 degree rainstorm.
• i did a shoot for miele USA.
• i went to the rural outskirts of pittsburgh for the PVSC scooter rally and watched fireworks launched from the back of a scooter.
• one of my favorite weddings i shot was on the beach and it began to rain during the vows, and was followed by a rainbow.
• my grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday surrounded by family at a brunch at the famous mission inn in riverside, ca.
• i was hired to photograph a beautiful resort in jamaica.
• my best friend of 18 years did a talent showcase for CBS, landed a role on TV, and just wrapped up the Grinch musical in LA. go den!

by the numbers, just a few…

• i had 1 lens shatter at a shoot
• i bought 2 more cameras
• and 3 new lenses
• clients spanned 5 different countries
• i was published 6 times
• i went through 6 rolls of seamless backdrops in my studio
• took 24 flights
• and bought 24 more rechargable batteries
• i photographed 35 weddings
• and a total of over 75 shoots

i put together a little slideshow of some client work as well as personal work that i wanted to share.

2009 in photos by Heather Parker

i’ve been somewhat M.I.A. on the blog these days as i have been editing photos ranging from resort shoots, to weddings, and corporate shoots from sometimes 8am until 1am trying to get as much done. i wanted to wish a happy chanukah and/or hanukkah to all my clients who celebrate! i can’t say i celebrate haukkah, nor am i a firm believer in any religion, i have a tree. as a wedding photographer i spend more time in church than many americans. so i feel i’ve done my time. below i decided to post some photos of my tree and ornaments. the tree that i have is an original evergleam aluminum tree. i am not a fan of the color wheel, and since you can’t string electric lights on an aluminum tree, i have decorated it with colorful ornaments instead. its decorated with vintage shiny brite ornaments.

here is my favorite ornament:

rather than chopping down a tree and hoping a company really replants enough trees, i go faux! this year i have made many green choices and hope to make even more in the future.

here is my green gift guide. i hope it inspires many of you to give green, and also to live green.

i am using sanyo eneloop rechargable batteries at all my shoots. they now come in fun colors, and are a good buy for anyone, not just professional photographers. even if you can’t find the rainbow packs, they make pretty nice looking regular white ones.
i had many reusable grocery bags bottom-out and for several years have used these awesome nylon rip-stop shopping bags, the german-made reisenthel

mini maxi shopping bag.

if you are the type to brown-bag your lunch to work, consider a fun Zojirushi Mr. Bento lunch container for your leftovers. there is even a flickr group for inspiration if you are considering a mr. bento.

there is plenty of jewelry available nowadays made from recycled materials, but re: vision is extra cool for recycling old camera lenses into jewelry.

for those coffee drinkers (not me, i’ve never drank a cup in my life) help them cut down on paper waste by using a sustain recyled &recyclable insulated tumbler. they are made with eCycle™, a recycled & recyclable material. you can grab them at CVS, Office Depot, and drugstore.com. they seem especially appealing after you look at coffee cup waste statistics.

it might be nearing that “too late” time to buy too many more gifts. but i hope this spawns some creative green thinking!