User:Sppd/Sandy Puc'

Sandy Puc' Portrait Design (SPPD) is the umbrella enterprise under which Master Photographer Sandy "Sam" Puc' operates several professional portraiture services, including her boutique studio in Littleton, Colorado. Puc' may be based in Colorado, however she travels the world teaching professionals techniques, tools and marketing plans to strengthen their skills, increase their quality clientele and improve their small businesses. She is also a board member of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), the world's largest nonprofit association for professional photographers, with more than 20,000 members in 54 countries. Puc' is slated to be president of PPA in 2012.

Among many others, Puc' is professionally sponsored by Canon where she is one of few individuals around the country that the camera company calls one of their premier photographers under the heading of an "Explorer of Light". The Explorers of Light concept came out of Canon USA in the mid-1990's as a broad-ranging initiative for photographic education and inspiration. Today the group is comprised of 62 of the most influential photographers in the world, each a master of their own respective creative specialty. You can read more about the Explorers of Light here (http://usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=ArtistsListAct&artistsViewType=list#artistsListTop). Puc's Canon profile can be found here (http://usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArtistDetailAct&artistID=186). In addition to print photography, Puc' and her video production team use top-notch high definition Canon equipment to capture instructional elements of her everyday portraiture work for usage on tour, on the web, and in her instructional DVDs.

The SPPD studio at 7201 S. Broadway encompasses state of-the-art technology indoors and a down-to-earth portrait setting in the backyard as it is bordered by the Highline Canal Trail. has been a popular fixture in Littleton for 15 years, chronicling families in the community as they grow and enjoy life’s events. The studio is known for its accomplished photographers, helpful sales consultants, skilled imaging artists, and gracious hospitality.

Owner and Master Photographer Sandy Puc'′ has a reputation in the local community for her passion, enthusiasm, artistic ability, and philanthropy. Around the world, Puc' is known for her co-founding of the non-profit charity, The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org), which is today a network of more than 7,500 professional photographers in more than 25 countries worldwide who offer their professional services providing heirloom portraiture to families suffering the loss of young children. NILMDTS volunteers provide keepsake photography to these parents of newborns for free.

Since its inception, Sandy Puc' Portrait Design has been committed to a variety of other additional community service assignments. Each year, the studio conducts several portrait fundraisers to benefit organizations such as the 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. The studio also provides gift certificates to local schools and organizations to assist them in their fundraising. In addition to her work in the studio, Puc' tours the globe annually (http://www.sandypuctours.com)teaching different specialty niches each year, with the 2010 tour focusing on family photography. Previous tours included "Bellies and Babies" in 2008 and "Tots-2-Teens" in 2009. The 2010 tour has Puc' on the road starting in January to teach part three in the "Passion for Profit" seminar tour series teaching seminar attendees how to make their studio the most family friendly in the community. Approximately 250-to-500 attendees register for each city stop on the tour.

As a part of the registration for tour class attendees, each professional is provided entry into the 2010 International Charity Model Search - (http://www.sandypucmodels.com) --- an international annual competition created to provide a marketing plan for each registered studio, allowing the small business owners to increase traffic into their studios while raising charity dollars at the same time for the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation. In 2009, the competition raised more than $164,775 for charity.

Puc' also provides instruction and marketing guidance to her students through Sam's World University - (http://www.samsworlduniversity.com) -- an educational experience for photographers looking to super charge their studio and inspire their creativity. SWU encompasses both the instructional DVDs Puc's production company produces and distributes as well as a monthly enrollment package allowing studios to download unique, SWU original graphics and marketing packages.

In addition to her scheduled tour and SWU, as an internationally recognized instructor, Puc' is tapped regularly to speak around the world on behalf of PPA and WPPI. In recent months, she spent time in both China and Japan on such assignments. During her time in China, Puc' was quarantined for a week after a passenger on her jet was diagnosed with the H1N1 Swine Flu. The Denver Post chronicled their journey in this article (http://www.denverpost.com/littleton/ci_12672716).

Back in Colorado, Puc' owns a store in Downtown Littleton on Main Street titled "Chiaroscuro: The Art of Life" which is a niche boutique for clients to find unique items display their fine photography and treasures (http://www.chiarogifts.com).

In her free time, Puc' is a prolific writer journaling her work and experiences. Currently she has her next work, a non-fiction chronicle, in draft status. She has previously published instructional table-top books including The Sandy Puc' Guide to Children's Portrait Photography from Amherst Press.