Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 30, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how McNiel Photography LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”), a Wisconsin limited liability company, collects, uses, shares, and protects your information when you visit www.mcnielphotography.com or use any of our services.

McNiel Photography LLC operates two brands on this website: The McNiels Photography & Films, our wedding and family photography and videography studio, and Emily McNiel Coaching, our education and coaching business for photographers. This policy covers both.

If you have questions at any point, email us at emily@mcnielphotography.com.

1. Information You Give Us

We collect information you provide directly, including:

• Contact and inquiry information: your name, email address, phone number, wedding or session date, venue, and anything you tell us in an inquiry form or email.
• Client information: details you share through questionnaires, planning documents, contracts, and correspondence related to your session or wedding.
• Purchase information: your name, email, billing address, and order details when you buy a product, course, or coaching program. Payment card details are entered directly with our payment processor and never stored on our servers.
• Email subscription information: your name and email address when you download a free resource, join a waitlist, or subscribe to our list.
• Course and coaching information: your responses, submissions, and questions inside programs, communities, and coaching sessions.

2. Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our website, certain information is collected automatically, including your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring website, pages viewed, time spent on pages, and how you interact with pages, including clicks, scrolling, and mouse movement.

3. Cookies, Analytics, and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the site, understand how it’s used, and measure and improve our advertising. Specifically:

• Google Analytics — measures site traffic and behavior, such as which pages are visited and how visitors arrive.
• Meta Pixel — measures the performance of our Facebook and Instagram advertising and allows us to show ads to people who have visited our site. This means information about your visit is shared with Meta.
• Hotjar — records anonymized session activity and produces heatmaps showing how visitors scroll and click, so we can improve page layout and usability. Hotjar is configured to mask text entered into form fields.
• Essential and functional cookies — set by our website platform, checkout, and email tools to keep the site working, remember preferences, and complete purchases.

How to opt out:

• Most browsers let you block or delete cookies through their settings.
• You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google’s browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
• You can adjust how Meta uses your information for advertising in your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences.
• You can opt out of Hotjar at hotjar.com/policies/do-not-track.

Our website does not currently respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals. You can always contact us directly at emily@mcnielphotography.com with an opt-out request.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to inquiries and communicate with you about your session, wedding, or purchase
• Deliver photography services, digital products, courses, and coaching
• Process payments and maintain business records
• Send marketing emails, resources, and offers you’ve subscribed to
• Operate, measure, and improve our advertising
• Analyze and improve our website, products, and services
• Meet legal, tax, and accounting obligations

5. Who We Share Information With

We do not sell your personal information for money.

We do share information with service providers who process it on our behalf in order to run our business. These include:

• Showit and WordPress — website hosting and blog
• ThriveCart — checkout and payment processing
• Flodesk — email marketing
• Sprout Studio — client management, contracts, questionnaires, and galleries
• Hello Audio — private podcast delivery
• Google — website analytics
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram) — advertising measurement and audience targeting
• Hotjar — session recording and heatmaps
• Supabase — data storage for our web-based tools and applications

On the photography side, we may also share limited client information with second shooters, videographers, and album or print vendors as necessary to deliver your services.

We may disclose information when required by law, in response to a valid legal request, or to protect our rights, safety, or property.

A note on advertising: some state privacy laws define sharing information with advertising platforms for targeted advertising as a “sale” or “share,” even when no money changes hands. Our use of the Meta Pixel may fall under that definition. You can opt out using the methods in Section 3, or by emailing us.

6. Your Rights and Choices

Regardless of where you live, you may ask us to:

• Tell you what personal information we hold about you
• Correct information that is inaccurate
• Delete your personal information, subject to records we’re required to keep
• Stop sending you marketing email
• Stop using your information for targeted advertising

To make a request, email emily@mcnielphotography.com. We’ll respond within 45 days. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

You can unsubscribe from marketing email at any time using the link at the bottom of any email we send. We may still send you non-marketing messages related to an active booking or purchase.

7. How Long We Keep Information

• Client galleries and image files: one year from the date of your session or wedding. After that, files are removed from our systems and online galleries. We strongly recommend downloading and backing up your images promptly.
• Contracts, invoices, and payment records: seven years, to meet tax and accounting requirements.
• Email subscriber information: until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you.
• Course and coaching account information: for as long as you have access to the program, plus a reasonable period afterward for support and records.
• Website analytics data: according to the retention settings of the tools listed in Section 3.

8. Security

We use encryption, secure hosting, access controls, and other reasonable measures to protect your information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children’s Privacy

This website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Photography sessions and weddings frequently include minors. The collection and use of those images is governed by the client contract signed by the parent, guardian, or contracting adult, not by this policy.

10. Third-Party Links

Our website and emails may link to websites we don’t operate. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. Continued use of the website after changes are posted means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

Questions, requests, or concerns about this policy or your information:

McNiel Photography LLC
Wisconsin, USA
emily@mcnielphotography.com