Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Tots Teens seminar presented by the highly acclaimed photographer Sandy “Sam” Puc. I would summarize the experience with one word “inspirational.”
Very early on in the seminar Sandy shared a story about her name. According to Sandy, when she was born, her father was hoping to have a boy and he wanted to call this son “Sam”. So, growing up Sandy was called “Sam” by her family and close friends. Once she got married, she was not too thrilled with being called “Sam Puc” so she reverted to her real name “Sandy Puc” for her photography business. She told this story to end the confusion regarding “Sam” vs. “Sandy” Puc. She explained that it was not uncommon for her to receive emails from her clients/associates that ended with “Say hello to your husband Sam for me!” Jokingly, she said “No, my husband is not named Sam!”
Well, I can definitely relate to this story. My first born Sophia was born approximately seven years ago. She was named after my now 95 year old grandmother Cleda Sophia Jackle. I would not trade her for the world. I remember she used pretend that she was a boy named “Sam”. In fact, when she was playing this game, she would correct us saying that her name is not Sophia/Sophie but we needed to call her Sam.
Like many fathers, I wanted to have a boy. Along with the typical reasons for this, I also wanted to carry on my last name to future generations. In my family tree, all the grandsons with the last name “Jackle” are having girls. We have yet to produce a boy to carry on my last name. Since my grandmother has truly touched all of our lives, I wanted to be the first grandson to give her the news that the Jackle last name would carry on with the birth of a son. You see my grandmother has defined the meaning of the importance of family to all us and this would be a great tribute to her.
So, a few years back, Jackie was pregnant with our second child. We found out that we were going to have another girl and I would not be able to surprise my grandmother with my desired news. What was interesting at that time , I think Jackie was more disappointed with the news than I was. Our disappointment was short lived, and all we really wanted was the birth of a healthy baby girl. So, our baby girl arrived at the hospital and we still had not decided on the name yet. We narrowed the name down to Savannah or Samantha. It was in the hospital that the “Savannah” decision was made.
The connection with Sandy Puc was made and I was all ears for the next few hours. Sandy proceeded to talk about her background which included raising 5 foster children and 5 natural children, starting a photography business in her home, and moving into her first and now brand new second studio. She currently has close to 30 people working in her studio in Littleton, Colorado.
She willingly shared many useful tips on running a photography business including marketing strategies, studio lighting demonstrations, working with children strategies for all age groups, and various other business insights. She constantly pointed out that she would not be where she was at in this business if it was not for other people that took their time to teach her over the years. She wanted to share her knowledge with all of us in an effort to help us not to make the same mistakes she had over the years.
It was the charity work that she does that really hit home to me. Her Now I lay me down to sleep charity was real touching. Photographers all over the world donate their time to photograph children that probably will not make it home from hospital. This effort is to help to provide memories and hopefully some closure to the parents of these lost children. She also is involved with other charities like Denver Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Locks of Love, Operation Smile, The Children’s Hospital, The Food Bank of the Rockies, and The Denver Dumb Friends League.
She strongly feels that photography is a need not a luxury. Every family needs to have photographs to pass along to their family and future generations. Each family makes choices of who does this photography. This reminds me of the treasured photographs that the previous Jackle generations have passed along from generation to generation. Thank god that photography has helped us all to preserve our memories. Sandy has truly inspired me to continue my quest to be the best “memory preserver” that I can be. Hopefully, my photographs will touch people in the same manner as previous photographers work have touched me.
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