A lifelong photographer and Parker parent of three, Elliot Holceker has volunteered to coordinate Parker’s yearbook Photo Days for the past 17 years. With his youngest daughter graduating from Parker this year, Holceker will be moving out of the role.

Holceker started in his role when, in 2005, the Parker Parents Association approached him to lead Photo Day and help coordinate with Stuart-Rogers Photography after noticing Holceker’s photography work that was auctioned at the Cooke and the Colonel benefit dinner.

Holceker took on the role and began working to both increase the quality of the photographs and optimize the Photo Day process. “Being a photographer, I think that helped … I was complaining about the quality. I wanted to make sure that the parents got what they deserved. I wanted to be sure that the parents were happy. That was really my task.”

Holceker’s involvement ranged from notifying the community of Photo Day in advance to training and leading volunteers from the community.

According to Director of Communications Nick Saracino, Holceker did more than just help out at Photo Day. “Every three to five years we have a retainer agreement with the company that helps us, and Elliot has assisted with the review and negotiations associated with those contracts, advocating on behalf of parents and the school to get more bang for our buck.”

Saracino says that Holceker has been not only an advocate for parents but also “a pleasure to work with … he has been a constant presence in orchestrating that all school event in a way that kind of treats everyone as equals, and make sure that everyone has what they need,” Saracino said.

“Elliot’s been amazing. He’s always been the person working with my office to ensure everyone knows when photo day is coming and what to expect,” Saracino said. “For many families, especially when they’re new, it is a big deal to figure it out, and you don’t want to screw it up.”

In his time as Photo Day Chair, Holceker made many optimizations to the Photo Day process. “I thought that if I can organize the barcode labels it would expedite the process … I would split them into class, by alphabet, and by teacher, then when people came in we just distributed the tickets to each student,” Holceker said. “It changed the whole environment — it is 80% faster than it was before.”

Stuart-Rogers Photography, the photography studio Parker uses for its Photo Day and sports team photography, found Holceker’s method to be so effective that it is now using the same system for all of their clients.

In addition to his logistical advancements for Photo Day, Holceker’s consistent presence has made him a known figure with students, parents, and teachers alike. “He is so personable and social,” senior Talia Holceker, Elliot Holceker’s daughter, said. “That’s been something that has been really nice to see.”

“I always loved getting to see my dad on Photo Day. … He would sometimes say embarrassing things, but he was known for Photo Day and everyone kind of thought he was cool for that. So if anything I enjoyed having him there,” Talia Holceker said.

Born in the USSR, Holceker moved to Poland at age nine, and then to Israel, finally settling in Brooklyn, New York when he entered high school. After graduating high school, Holceker attended Baruch College in New York. After two years there he left and got a job at CBS. “I really wanted to work to help my parents … they gave me a position in the mailroom. And, believe it or not, from that position after a couple of years, they transferred me to advertising.”

At Columbia Records, then owned by CBS, Holceker worked in advertising, promoting then-underground artists including Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and Eric Clapton. “I was responsible for taking them into the station, promoting the music to get airplay. I became very much molded into that lifestyle.”

Columbia Records was also Holceker’s first entry into photography. “They gave me a free camera, and they said they’d develop all the pictures for me,” Holceker said. “I said ‘Holy cow, let me take advantage of this.’”

With his new camera and VIP pass from Columbia Records, Holceker began photographing bands backstage in New York City. “I went to all of these nightclubs in New York that had live bands,” Holceker said. “One day, John Lennon and Yoko appeared … And the other day Eric Clapton came. The array of artists that I have met and photographed, it was just phenomenal.”

Until 1972, Holceker continued to take and develop pictures for his own pleasure. That year, he was asked by the manager of the Alice Cooper Band to go on tour with the band across Europe.

“I was thrilled. I didn’t care if I made any money. I was young. It was all about having fun,” Holceker said. On the tour he met stars of the likes of Omar Sharif and the band KISS. “We went to clubs that were really very close,” Holceker said. “You could see all those singers and bands … you stay till four or five o’clock in the morning. That was normal. That was a normal life.”

After Europe with Alice Cooper, Holceker was asked by British music weekly magazine “Melody Maker” to go to Jamaica and photograph the Rolling Stones. “That life was incredible, that experience to be with Mick Jagger in one room for hours at a time taking pictures of him,” Holceker said.

From Jamaica and the Rolling Stones, Holceker shifted across the country twice. First to California with the management offices of Alice Cooper, where he opened a photo studio on Hollywood Boulevard and photographed actors, parties, and events. Next, Holceker moved back home to Brooklyn, where he dropped photography and worked in the retail industry. Eventually, he opened his own manufacturing business importing from Eastern Europe.

In New York, Holceker married his wife, Nancy Ettelson ‘81. The two moved to Chicago with their then-five-year-old twin daughters, who started at Parker. At Parker, Holceker’s penchant for photography quickly became known.

“From day one, all the way from JK, I started taking pictures. I took pictures and printed them and gave them to the kids and parents to a point that I became the official photographer of the grade,” Holceker said. “If I didn’t have a camera on me, people wouldn’t recognize me.”

And for the past 17 years, Holceker has been the Photo Day Chair, and says he has enjoyed every second of it. “I’ve been there for so long. I know the kids that grew up from JK, and they all know me.”

Now, at his own studio, Elliot Holceker Photography, for a small group of clients, Holceker does work such as holiday cards, family portraits, and events.

Holceker is slated to shoot Senior Portraits this coming spring but has no confirmed future commitment. “In the back of me I’m saying, ‘Well, are they going to find anybody? I’ll be back,’” Holceker said. “But I honestly hope that they find somebody who has the devotion I did.”