Privacy Policy — Ellis Creek Photography

1. Introduction

Ellis Creek Photography LLC ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") is an architectural and commercial photography firm organized under the laws of the State of South Carolina and headquartered in Charleston, SC. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard information when you visit elliscreekphotography.com, book a photography session through our online booking system, request a custom project quote, or otherwise engage with our services (collectively, the "Service").

By using the Service, you consent to the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

We may collect the following information when you book a session, request a quote, or correspond with us:

Contact information: first name, last name, email address, phone number, and (when applicable) business or firm name.
Project information: property addresses, project type (architectural, healthcare, multifamily, real estate, etc.), square footage tier, photo session preferences, and any notes or briefs you provide about the project scope.
Licensing information: the licensee's name and contact details when image licensing terms are scoped to a third party (for example, a builder commissioning photography of an architect's project).
Account credentials: if you create an admin or staff account, your email and password. Passwords are stored using Argon2id, a modern one-way hashing algorithm — we never store passwords in plain text.
Communication data: messages, emails, and correspondence sent to or through the Service.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access the Service, we may automatically collect:

Usage data: pages visited, features used, and booking funnel interactions.
Device information: browser type, operating system, and device identifiers.
Log data: IP addresses, access times, and referring URLs.
Session data: cookies and session identifiers used to maintain authenticated sessions for staff accounts and to retain unsaved booking progress.
Analytics: aggregate usage metrics via Google Analytics 4 to improve the Service. See Section 6 for cookie details.

2.3 Payment Information

When you pay an invoice associated with a booking or project, your payment information (credit card numbers, bank account details) is collected and processed directly by our third-party payment processor, QuickBooks Payments (Intuit Inc.). We do not receive, store, or have access to your full payment card or bank account numbers. We receive only transaction confirmation data such as payment status, amount, and date.

2.4 Address Autocomplete

Our booking system uses the Google Maps Places API to assist with entering property addresses. When you type into an address field, your partial entry is sent to Google for autocomplete suggestions. Google's use of this data is governed by Google's privacy policy. We do not store the autocomplete request history; we store only the final address you select.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

Schedule, confirm, and deliver photography sessions and related services.
Create and manage your booking and any associated account.
Generate invoices, facilitate payments, and document tax-relevant transactions.
Send transactional communications (booking confirmations, shoot reminders, invoice notifications, password resets, license documentation).
Respond to your inquiries and provide customer support.
Monitor usage patterns to improve the booking flow, content, and overall Service.
Protect against unauthorized access, fraud, and abuse.
Comply with legal, tax, and accounting obligations under South Carolina and federal law.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your information for behavioral advertising or profiling.

4. How We Share Your Information

We share information only in the following circumstances:

4.1 Third-Party Service Providers

We rely on trusted third-party providers to operate the Service. These providers have access to your information only as needed to perform their functions and are obligated to maintain its confidentiality:

Amazon Web Services (AWS): cloud infrastructure and hosting. Data is stored in the United States (us-east-1 region).
QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payments (Intuit Inc.): invoicing and payment processing. Subject to Intuit's Privacy Statement.
Brevo (Sendinblue): transactional email delivery (booking confirmations, invoices, password resets). Subject to Brevo's Privacy Policy.
Google (Maps Platform & Calendar API): address autocomplete on booking forms and calendar synchronization for scheduling. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
Capture (mycapturephotos.com): our sister photo-delivery platform, operated by Ellis Creek Photography LLC. When a paid project is complete, contact information and project metadata may be shared between the booking system and Capture so that finished images can be delivered to you through a secured client gallery. Capture's privacy policy governs that platform.

4.2 Licensees and Project Stakeholders

Architectural and commercial photography frequently involves multiple parties — for example, an architect commissioning photography of a project completed by a builder, with images then licensed to both. Where you identify a third party as a licensee or co-recipient of images, we may share that party's identity (name, firm) and license scope on the corresponding invoice and license documentation. We do not share payment information across parties.

4.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or governmental regulation, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.

4.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, your information may be transferred to the acquiring entity, subject to the same protections described in this Policy.

5. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal information, including:

Encryption in transit via TLS/SSL (HTTPS) for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers.
Passwords hashed with Argon2id, a modern memory-hard hashing algorithm.
Role-based access controls limiting data access to authorized personnel.
Regular security updates to our application framework and server infrastructure.
Payment information handled exclusively by PCI-compliant third-party processors (QuickBooks Payments).

No method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Cookies and Session Data

The Service uses the following categories of cookies:

Essential cookies and session identifiers to maintain authenticated sessions, preserve unsaved booking progress, and protect against cross-site request forgery (CSRF).
Analytics cookies set by Google Analytics 4 to measure aggregate usage of the Service. These cookies do not identify you personally to us; they are used to understand how visitors navigate the site so that we can improve content and the booking experience.

We do not use advertising cookies or sell cookie data to third parties.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information for the duration of an active client relationship and for additional periods as needed to comply with our legal, tax, and contractual obligations:

Booking and project records: retained for the life of the project and for archival reference thereafter.
Photographs: originals and edited deliveries are retained in our archive in accordance with our internal storage policy. Client galleries on the Capture delivery platform may be archived after a reasonable period following delivery.
Invoice and payment records: retained for a minimum of seven (7) years to comply with South Carolina and federal tax and accounting requirements.
Server logs: retained for up to ninety (90) days for security and debugging.

You may request deletion of your contact information and project records by contacting us (see Section 11). Note that we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (for example, completed invoices for tax purposes).

8. Your Rights

Depending on your state or country of residence, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

Access: request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Correction: request correction of inaccurate personal information.
Deletion: request deletion of your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements.
Data portability: request your data in a structured, commonly used format.
Opt-out of communications: request that we cease sending non-transactional communications.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the information in Section 11.

9. Children's Privacy

The Service is directed to businesses, professionals, and property owners over the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected information from a minor, we will take prompt steps to delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via the email address associated with your account or via a notice on the Service. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was most recently revised. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to exercise any of the rights described in Section 8, please contact us:

Ellis Creek Photography LLC
2 Live Oak Ave
Charleston, SC 29407
Email: josh@elliscreekphotography.com
Phone: (843) 732-6111