Service agreement

This section is a courtesy summary. If it ever conflicts with the numbered sections below, the numbered sections control.

• The Photographer owns every image — RAW files, previews, and all edited images — along with all intellectual property rights in them, forever.
• The Client buys a license to use the delivered edited images for personal purposes, not ownership of the images themselves.
• The Client may print, share, and post the delivered images for personal use, with credit appreciated but not required.
• The Client may not sell the images, use them commercially, claim authorship, re-edit them, or remove watermarks.

• "Images" means every photograph created by the Photographer in connection with the Services, in any state: RAW captures, unedited previews, proofs, watermarked files, and Edited Images.
• "Edited Images" means the final photographs selected, retouched, color-graded, or otherwise processed by the Photographer and delivered to the Client.
• "Services" means the photography session(s), editing, and delivery described in Section 3.
• "Delivery Gallery" means the private online gallery through which the Photographer delivers Edited Images.

The Photographer will provide the photography package selected by the Client (Collaborator — The Collab; Good — The Essential; Better — The Signature; or Best — The Legacy), including session date(s), location(s), session fee, and deliverables as Edited Images via the Delivery Gallery.

The Photographer controls the artistic and technical execution of the Services, including composition, lighting, editing style, and final image selection.

1. Edited Images are delivered through the Delivery Gallery within the turnaround stated for the selected package.
2. Only Edited Images are deliverables. RAW files, unedited captures, and outtakes are never delivered and remain the Photographer's exclusive property and confidential working material.
3. The Photographer will retain archive copies of Edited Images for at least twelve (12) months after delivery but is not a permanent backup service; the Client is responsible for saving their delivered files.

1. Sole ownership. The Photographer is, and at all times remains, the sole and exclusive owner of all right, title, and interest in and to every Image, including all Edited Images, and all intellectual property rights in them — including copyright, moral rights (to the fullest extent permitted by law), and all rights of reproduction, distribution, display, adaptation, and derivative works.
2. Creation as author. All Images are original works authored by the Photographer. Nothing in this Agreement is a "work made for hire" arrangement, an assignment, or a transfer of ownership of any kind.
3. Payment does not transfer ownership. Payment of the session fee purchases the Services and the license described in Section 6 — not the copyright or any ownership interest in any Image.
4. Registration and enforcement. The Photographer may register copyrights in the Images and may enforce them against any infringing use, including unauthorized commercial use of delivered files.

Upon full payment, the Photographer grants the Client a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, perpetual license to use the delivered Edited Images for personal, non-commercial purposes, meaning the Client may:

1. Download and keep copies of the Edited Images;
2. Print the Edited Images for personal display and gifts;
3. Share and post the Edited Images on personal social media accounts;
4. Include the Edited Images in personal keepsakes (albums, cards, invitations).

Photographer credit ("Chasing Light by Cliff") is appreciated when posting publicly but is not required.

The Client may not, without the Photographer's prior written permission:

1. Sell, license, or otherwise commercialize any Image;
2. Use any Image for advertising, promotion, publication, stock photography, NFTs, or AI training;
3. Apply filters, re-edit, crop out watermarks, or materially alter any Edited Image (basic resizing for social media is fine);
4. Claim authorship or credit another person or tool for the Images;
5. Distribute RAW or unedited files if any are ever inadvertently accessible;
6. Transfer this license to any third party (family sharing for personal use is fine).

Any use outside the Section 6 license requires a separate written license and may involve an additional fee.

The Photographer may use any Image for portfolio, website, social media, exhibitions, competitions, and self-promotion. If the Client prefers that recognizable images of themselves or their family not be used publicly, the Client may opt out in writing before or at the session.

Unless the Client opts out under Section 8, the Client grants the Photographer permission to use the Client's likeness (and that of minors in the Client's care who appear at the session) in the Images for the purposes described in Section 8, without further compensation.

1. A non-refundable retainer is due at booking and is applied to the session fee.
2. The remaining balance is due on or before the session date.
3. The Delivery Gallery is unlocked for download only after the balance is paid in full.
4. Late payments more than fourteen (14) days overdue may accrue a late fee of 1.5% per month.

1. The Client may reschedule once with at least seven (7) days' notice; the retainer carries over.
2. Cancellation by the Client forfeits the retainer.
3. If the Photographer must cancel (illness, emergency, equipment failure), the Client may choose a full refund of all payments or a rescheduled session at no additional cost. This refund is the Client's sole remedy for the Photographer's cancellation.
4. Weather-dependent sessions may be rescheduled by either Party without penalty.

1. The Photographer's total liability under this Agreement is limited to the total fees actually paid by the Client.
2. Neither Party is liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages.
3. In the unlikely event of complete loss of the Images before delivery (e.g., catastrophic media failure), the Photographer will refund all payments in full and, where practical, offer a re-shoot; this is the Client's sole remedy.

1. Entire agreement. This Agreement is the entire agreement between the Parties about the Services and replaces any prior discussions.
2. Amendments. Changes must be in writing and signed by both Parties.
3. Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest of the Agreement remains in effect.
4. Survival. Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 survive completion or termination of the Services.
5. Governing law. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the applicable state set out in the signed agreement, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.