Last updated: August 13, 2026

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These Session Terms ("Terms") form an agreement between you ("Client," "you") and Nina Merklina Photography ("Photographer," "I," "me," "my"). They apply to all portrait, headshot, event, and commissioned photography sessions.

By checking the box indicating your agreement, submitting a booking request, paying a booking fee, or attending a scheduled session, you accept these Terms.

Please read them. They are written to be understandable rather than intimidating, and they cover what happens before, during, and after your session.
 

1. BOOKING AND PAYMENT

A non-refundable booking fee of $50 reserves your session date and time. Your date is not held until the booking fee is received.

The booking fee is applied toward your total session fee.

The remaining balance is due after your session. I send an invoice once your photographs are securely backed up, typically the evening of the session or the following day.

Galleries are delivered after the balance is paid in full.

Corporate, team, and event clients may be invoiced on a different schedule, agreed in advance.

Session fees are quoted before booking. Prices published on my website are standard rates for typical sessions. Larger groups, extended coverage, travel, multiple locations, or additional production needs are quoted individually.
 

2. CANCELLATION AND RESCHEDULING

By you. The booking fee is non-refundable in the event of cancellation or no-show. If you need to reschedule, please give at least 48 hours notice and I will move your booking fee to a new date, subject to availability. Reschedules are permitted twice before a new booking fee is required.

By me. If I must cancel or reschedule for illness, emergency, equipment failure, or any other reason, you may choose a new date or receive a full refund including the booking fee.

Weather. Outdoor sessions depend on conditions. If weather makes a session unsafe or unworkable, we will reschedule at no additional cost. That decision is mine to make, and I will make it as early as I reasonably can. Overcast skies and light drizzle are usually fine and often produce better light than direct sun.

Late arrival. Session time begins at the scheduled start time. If you arrive late, we work with the time remaining rather than extending the session, since I may have commitments afterward.

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3. COPYRIGHT AND OWNERSHIP

I own the copyright to all photographs I create, from the moment they are taken, under U.S. copyright law. This is standard across the photography industry and is not affected by payment of a session fee.

You do not acquire copyright by purchasing a session. What you receive is a license to use your images, described in the next section.

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4. YOUR LICENSE TO USE YOUR IMAGES

For portrait, family, senior, and individual headshot sessions, you receive a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive license to use your delivered images for personal and professional self-representation, including:

• Printing for personal display and gifts

• Social media, personal websites, and messaging

• Professional profiles including LinkedIn, company directories, speaking bios, press use, and similar

You may not:

• Sell, license, or sublicense the images to third parties

• Alter, filter, crop, or apply edits that materially change the photograph, and then present it as my work

• Remove or obscure any embedded copyright information

• Enter the images into contests or submit them as your own creative work

• Use the images as source material to generate AI-derived portraits, avatars, or synthetic likenesses that are then presented as my work

If you want AI-generated variations of your images, ask me. That is a conversation, not a prohibition, and I can often license the image for it.

Commercial and advertising use by businesses, including paid advertising campaigns, product packaging, billboards, or stock licensing, requires a separate written license. Corporate headshot and team clients receive a defined commercial usage license, described in your individual quote.

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5. PERMISSION TO USE IMAGES (MODEL RELEASE)

This section grants me permission to show my own work. Please read it carefully, and see Section 7 if you would prefer to opt out.

By booking a session, you grant Nina Merklina Photography the perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive right to reproduce, publish, display, and distribute photographs from your session for the following purposes:

• My portfolio, website, and online galleries

• Social media accounts operated by Nina Merklina Photography

• Marketing and promotional materials, including print, email, and paid advertising for my own photography services

• Blog posts, educational content, and behind-the-scenes material about my work

• Submissions to photography competitions, exhibitions, publications, and industry showcases

• Client-facing samples shown privately to prospective clients

 

This permission includes the right to use your name only where you have separately agreed to it, such as a testimonial you have provided. Otherwise, images will be published without identifying you by name.

You waive any right to inspect or approve finished versions used for these purposes, and you understand no additional compensation is owed for this use.

This permission does not extend to:

• Licensing your images to third parties for their advertising

• Selling your images as stock photography

• Any use suggesting your endorsement of a product or service other than my own photography business

• Any use in a context that is defamatory, sexually explicit, or that a reasonable person would find degrading

 

A note on artificial intelligence. I do not submit client images to AI training datasets, and I have no plans to. I cannot promise that images published publicly on my website or social media will never be collected by third parties that crawl the web. No photographer can make that promise honestly, whatever their terms say.

If this matters to you, the opt-out in Section 7 is the reliable answer rather than a guarantee I am not able to keep. Images I do not publish are not exposed to it. Ask, and I will keep your session private.

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6. MINORS

If your session includes anyone under 18, you confirm that you are the parent or legal guardian of each minor present, or that you have the authority of every parent or legal guardian to agree to these Terms on their behalf.

That confirmation covers the permission described in Section 5, including publication of images of minors on my website and social media.

If any minor in your session has a different parent or guardian who has not agreed to these Terms, tell me before the session and I will treat those images as opted out under Section 7.

Images of minors are never published with a full name, school, or location detail without separate written permission from the parent or guardian.

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7. OPTING OUT

You may decline the permission in Section 5 entirely, or ask me to remove specific images from public use, at any time. There is no penalty and no change to your session fee.

You do not need a reason, and I will not ask for one. Parents in particular sometimes prefer their children not appear online at all, which I understand and will simply honor.

To opt out, email me at nina@merklina.com. If you opt out before your session, no images will be published. If you opt out later, I will remove the images from my website and social media within 7 business days of your request.

Some limits apply for practical reasons: material already printed, already published by a third party such as a magazine or competition, or already distributed in an email campaign cannot always be recalled. I will remove what is within my control.

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8. DELIVERY, GALLERIES, AND ARCHIVING

Delivery timelines are 14 business days for portrait, headshot, and event sessions, unless otherwise agreed. Holiday season timelines may be longer and will be communicated in advance.

Rush delivery (overnight or same-day) is available for an additional fee, starting at $150 for standard sessions and quoted individually for larger productions based on volume.

Images are delivered through a private online gallery. Galleries remain active for 30 days. Please download and back up your images promptly.

After a gallery expires, I retain your session files as a courtesy. I do not delete session files, and I am always happy to email an individual image at no charge. Reactivating full online gallery access after expiration is available for a $50 fee, plus $50 for each additional month of continued access, since ongoing hosting has a real cost even when the files themselves are free to retrieve individually.

You receive the finished images described in your session package. Unedited files, RAW files, proofs, and outtakes are not delivered and are not available for purchase. This is standard practice and reflects that editing is part of the work you are commissioning, not an optional add-on.

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9. CREATIVE CONTROL

I bring my own editing style and judgment to every session. You are hiring that judgment. Image selection, color treatment, and retouching approach are mine to make, informed by our conversation before and during the session.

Retouching included in your session covers temporary blemishes, distractions, minor skin evening, and similar refinements. Requests for significant alteration of body shape or permanent features are handled case by case and may involve an additional fee.

If something in a delivered image is genuinely wrong, tell me and I will fix it. Preference-based re-edits beyond what your session includes may be quoted separately.

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10. SESSION CONDUCT AND SAFETY

You are responsible for the safety and supervision of everyone in your party, including children and pets, during the session.

I reserve the right to end a session without refund if any participant behaves abusively, is under the influence in a way that prevents the session from proceeding, or creates an unsafe situation for anyone present.

I carry liability insurance. Certificates are available on request for venues that require them.

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11. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

In the unlikely event of equipment failure, data loss, or any other circumstance preventing delivery of some or all images, my liability is limited to a refund of the fees you have paid.

I am not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including lost opportunities, missed deadlines, or emotional distress arising from a session or its images.

This limitation does not apply where prohibited by law.

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12. CORPORATE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CLIENTS

These Terms govern your session unless Nina Merklina Photography and your organization have signed a separate written agreement that expressly supersedes them.

A vendor agreement, purchase order, master services agreement, or set of supplier terms issued by your organization does not modify these Terms unless I have reviewed and signed it. Terms transmitted with a purchase order, referenced by link, or incorporated by default into a procurement portal are not accepted by my performance of the session.

Where a signed agreement and these Terms conflict, the signed agreement controls only on the specific points it addresses. Everything else in these Terms remains in effect, including copyright ownership under Section 3 and the license limits in Section 4.

Work-for-hire arrangements, transfers of copyright, and unlimited or perpetual commercial licenses are available but must be negotiated and priced separately. They are not included in a standard session fee.

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13. PRIVACY

Information you provide when booking is used to communicate with you, deliver your images, and maintain my business records. I do not sell client information. Full details are in my Privacy Policy Page

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14. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

I may update these Terms. The version in effect at the time of your booking governs your session. Updated Terms apply to bookings made after they are published, and the current version is always available at SESSION TERMS PAGE.

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15. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina. Any dispute is subject to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of Orange County or Wake County, North Carolina.

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16. CONTACT

Nina Merklina Nina Merklina Photography nina@merklina.com 917-940-9326

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