What I keep, and what I don’t

Protsyk Studio is a wedding photography practice run by Oleh Protsyk in Chicago, Illinois. When this page says “I” it means the studio. This policy covers protsykstudio.com and the work that follows from it.

It is written in plain language on purpose. If something here is unclear, ask me and I will answer in the same language.

Only what you type, and only when you choose to write to me.

• The enquiry form. Your names, email address, the date and place of the wedding, and whatever you write in the message. Planners are also asked for a company name and a phone number.
• Server logs. The hosting company records IP addresses and page requests, as every web server does. I do not read them except when something is broken.
• Email and messages. If you write by email, WhatsApp or Instagram, that conversation sits with whichever service you chose to use.

An enquiry is sent to me as an email. It is not stored in a database on this website.

This is the part that matters most on a photographer’s site, so it is the longest.

• Your gallery is private. Finished photographs are delivered through a private online gallery with a link you control. It is not indexed by search engines.
• Showing work publicly is agreed in the contract. Whether photographs from your day may appear on this site, on Instagram or in a printed portfolio is written into the agreement you sign, before the wedding, not decided afterwards.
• You can say no. Full privacy is available as an option at booking, and nothing from the day is published. If you change your mind later, write to me and I will take the photographs down from anything I control.
• Location data is removed. Every photograph published here has its camera metadata stripped before it goes up, including GPS coordinates. The venue is not embedded in the file.
• Guests. A wedding is a private event and I photograph the people in it. If a guest would rather not appear anywhere public, tell me on the day or afterwards and I will honour it.

Illinois has the strictest biometric privacy law in the country, so this deserves a plain answer: I do not use facial recognition, face grouping or any other biometric identification on your photographs, and I do not collect, store or sell biometric identifiers as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act defines them.

Culling and editing are done by eye. If that ever changes, I will ask for written consent first, because the law requires it and because it is the right way round.

A small number of services are needed to run the studio. Each sees only what it needs.

• Web hosting. Stores this website and its server logs.
• Email delivery. Carries your enquiry from the form to my inbox.
• Online gallery. Hosts your finished photographs for you to view and download.
• A film lab. Develops and scans the rolls shot on your day.
• A second photographer. On most weddings, working under the same agreement as me.

Links to Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are ordinary links. Following one takes you to that company, where their rules apply, not mine. I may also have to disclose information if the law requires it.

• Enquiries that do not become bookings. Deleted within about a year.
• Contracts and invoices. Kept as long as tax and business records require.
• Your photographs. Archived indefinitely so that a lost gallery can be recovered years later. Ask me to delete them and I will, though after that they are gone for good.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas and a growing number of other states give residents rights over their personal information. Rather than sort you by state, I extend the same rights to everyone who writes to me.

• Ask what I hold about you, and get a copy.
• Ask me to correct it.
• Ask me to delete it, subject to records I am required to keep.
• Ask me to stop showing your photographs publicly.
• Be treated no differently for asking. Nothing here costs you a discount or a service.

I do not sell personal information, and I do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising – which under California law means there is no “Do Not Sell” link to give you, because there is nothing to opt out of.

This site is not directed at children and I do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13 through it. Children are of course photographed at weddings; a parent or guardian can ask me not to publish a photograph of their child and I will remove it without asking why.

The site is served over HTTPS, accounts are limited to me, and public registration is closed. Photographs are backed up in more than one place.

No system is perfectly secure, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. What I can promise is that I keep very little, and that if something goes wrong I will tell you rather than hope you do not notice.

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. For anything material I will say so directly to clients whose weddings are still ahead.

To make any request above, or to ask a question, write to hello@protsykstudio.com or call 864 909 67 95. I answer these myself, usually the same week. No special form and no account needed – a plain email is enough.