“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies . . . Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die . . . It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.”
~Ray Bradbury
As a portrait photographer, my career has led me to so many incredible places and introduced me to many wonderful families. I recently sat down with my associate Erin to create a new marketing program to document my oldest and dearest clients. This program is part of a book project that will create a compilation of their portraits over the years and their perspectives on the memories that they contain as well.
We wanted to see which clients we had been serving the longest so we printed a document that included over 2000 names. It listed them by start date. 2001 is our earliest official record but many started as early as 1997.
Erin has been with the company for the last 17 years and has watched us grow from a tiny home business where my master bedroom was the studio and my dining room was the sales to our current location. She has an amazing memory that includes names and faces and remembers every detail of the sessions we produce.
As we looked at the names we were both tearing up, remembering each family. Years and years of baby photos, then children's work, senior portraits and of course always documenting the family along the way as well. We recognized so many families that had lost a child, a spouse or a loved one that had been included in the images. We talked about the value those images must have now.
Both of us just sat in a pool of tears as we realized that the greater portion of our lives have been dedicated to capturing and preserving these families' memories. All of the sudden we were inspired to tell their stories and share their history in one place.
The Legacy project was created as a thank you to our past clients. They of course are the reason for our success and we wanted to thank them by offering them a special complimentary session as well as including them in the full art product. This project will include a short film sharing their memories, a full session that is dedicated to showing their unique personalities and a special keepsake gift.
We have already started with over 45 sessions booked. We have shared so many tears, hugs and laughter. Parents have been excited to discuss the images and the power of love and healing they provide.
No one could have imagined how inspirational this project would become. It has ignited a re-birth for the passion and love that we all feel for the work we do. It is truly an honor to see these families again, hear their stores and capture a new memory for them.
If you are a family that has been working with Sandy Puc' Photography since 2005 or earlier and would like to be included in this project please call soon. We have only 55 more spaces available and we would love to see your family again.
Thank you for sharing this journey with us!
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