North Carolina Studio
140 W. Main St., Sanford, NC 27332
hello@northcarolinastudio.com
Last updated: [DATE]
North Carolina Studio (“we,” “us,” “our”) operates northcarolinastudio.com and the studio, production and office facilities at 140 W. Main St., Sanford, North Carolina. This policy explains what information we collect, why, and what we do with it.
SMS and text messaging
We collect mobile phone numbers solely to send notifications about bookings you have made with North Carolina Studio.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.
You opt in to text messages on our booking form by selecting “Text only” or “Both” when choosing how you would like to receive reminders. Consent is recorded with a timestamp. We do not add anyone to text messaging without that affirmative selection.
Messages relate only to bookings you have made and include confirmations, reminders before your session, arrival details, notice of changes or cancellations, and links to view or manage your booking.
Message frequency varies by booking, typically 2–4 messages per reservation. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to opt out, or HELP for assistance. Opting out of text messages does not cancel your booking — we will continue to contact you by email about a session you have reserved.
What we collect
When you book
Name, email address, phone number, business name where provided, and details you give us about your session. For seasonal portrait sessions we also collect the number of people attending.
When you pay
Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. We retain a record of the amount, the date, the last four digits, and a Stripe transaction reference.
When you join a list
Email address and any preferences you tell us, for the office waitlist or the photographer mailing list.
When you visit the site
Standard server logs including IP address, browser type, pages viewed and referring page. Cookies as described below.
When you contact us
Whatever you choose to include in an email, form submission or text message.
Photographs and recordings
This matters more here than at most businesses, so it is worth being specific.
Work you create in our studio belongs to you. If you rent the studio and photograph or film your own clients, we claim no ownership or licence over that work. We do not access, copy or retain it.
Work we create for you under a production or portrait agreement is governed by that agreement. Ownership and licensing are set out there, not here.
Photographs of the space. We photograph and film our own facilities for marketing. We do not publish images that identify you, your clients or your work without permission. If you are ever in frame incidentally and would rather not be, tell us and we will remove it.
Session galleries. Where we deliver images to you, those galleries are hosted on a third-party delivery platform and secured by a private link. We retain them for a limited period and then remove them.
Children
We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 through this website.
Children attend our seasonal portrait sessions, and we photograph them at the request of a parent or guardian. In those cases:
- The booking, contact details and consent come from the adult, not the child
- We do not collect a child’s contact information
- We do not use images of children in marketing without separate, explicit written permission from a parent or guardian
- A parent or guardian may ask us to delete images of their child at any time
If you believe a child has provided us information through the website, contact us and we will delete it.
Why we hold what we hold
| Purpose | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Providing the service | Managing your booking, taking payment, letting you in the building |
| Communicating with you | Confirmations, reminders, changes, delivery of your images |
| Running the business | Accounting, tax records, resolving disputes |
| Improving the site | Aggregate, non-identifying traffic analysis |
| Legal obligations | Records we are required to keep |
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with advertisers.
Who else touches your data
We use a small number of service providers, each handling only what their function requires:
- Stripe — payment processing
- Postmark — sending email
- Twilio — sending text messages
- Google Calendar — our internal schedule (bookings are pushed out; nothing is read back in)
- Our web host — running the site
Each is bound by its own privacy terms. We share your information with them only to deliver the service you asked for.
We may also disclose information where legally required, or to establish or defend a legal claim.
Cookies
We use cookies for:
- Essential function — keeping you signed in to view your bookings, and remembering your place in a booking flow
- Analytics — understanding which pages people use, in aggregate
You can block cookies in your browser. Essential cookies are required for the booking system to work; blocking them will break it.
How long we keep things
- Booking and payment records — seven years, for tax and accounting
- Marketing and waitlist contacts — until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you
- Session galleries — a limited period after delivery, then removed
- Server logs — a short rolling window
Your choices
You may ask us to:
- Tell you what we hold about you
- Correct anything inaccurate
- Delete your information, where we are not required to keep it
- Stop sending you marketing email or texts
- Provide your information in a portable format
Email hello@northcarolinastudio.com and we will respond within 30 days. We will not charge you or treat you differently for asking.
Unsubscribing is immediate: reply STOP to any text, or use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email. Booking confirmations and reminders for a session you have reserved are transactional and continue regardless, unless you cancel the booking.
Security
We use encrypted connections across the site, hold card data nowhere on our systems, encrypt stored service credentials, and limit access to booking records to people who need it to run the studio.
No system is perfectly secure, and we will not claim otherwise. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you.
Changes
We will update this policy as the business changes and revise the date above. Material changes affecting how we use your information will be notified by email to anyone with an active booking or subscription.
Contact
North Carolina Studio
140 W. Main St.
Sanford, NC 27332
hello@northcarolinastudio.com
[LEGAL ENTITY NAME] does business as North Carolina Studio.