Legal
How we collect, use, share, and protect your information — in plain language.
Effective date: August 2, 2026 · Last updated: August 2, 2026
Sam Gross Studios LLC is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the State of Maryland, doing business as Sam Gross Studios. In this policy, "Sam Gross Studios," "we," "us," and "our" mean Sam Gross Studios LLC. We provide professional headshot, portrait, editorial, beauty, and branding photography, and we operate on-site headshot activations known as The Headshot Lounge.
This Privacy Policy explains how Sam Gross Studios handles personal information collected through samgrossstudios.com, our landing pages and booking pages, our email and text message programs, and our in-person photography services.
Sam Gross Studios LLCThis policy applies to personal information we collect from and about:
It does not apply to the privacy practices of third parties, including event organizers, sponsors, or venues that may separately collect your information at an event.
We do not seek to collect sensitive personal data such as health information, precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, immigration status, sex life or sexual orientation, or biometric identifiers. We do not perform facial recognition, facial geometry mapping, or any other biometric identification on the photographs we take. If you volunteer sensitive information in a free-text field, please note that we do not need it and will not use it for any purpose other than responding to you.
We use personal information to:
We limit the personal data we collect to what is reasonably necessary and proportionate to provide or maintain the services you have asked us for.
Sam Gross Studios operates an opt-in text messaging program. You will only receive text messages from us if you have given us your express written consent — for example, by checking one of the SMS consent boxes on our contact form, or by texting us first.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Information sharing to subcontractors in support services, such as customer service, is permitted. All other use case categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.
These are separate consents. You may opt in to one, both, or neither. Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of purchasing any goods or services from Sam Gross Studios, and it is not required in order to submit our contact form.
We use your mobile number only to send the categories of messages you consented to receive, and to respond to you. We use a licensed messaging platform and telecommunications carriers to transmit messages on our behalf. Those providers are contractually restricted to processing the data solely to deliver our messages and may not use your mobile information for their own marketing or promotional purposes, and may not sell or share it.
We keep a record of your opt-in and any opt-out for as long as required to demonstrate compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Maryland Telephone Solicitations Act, and carrier and CTIA messaging requirements — generally at least four years — even after you unsubscribe.
We send two kinds of email: transactional email relating to an inquiry, booking, or delivery you asked for, and marketing email about our services, offers, and events. Every marketing email includes a working unsubscribe link and our physical mailing address, as required by the CAN-SPAM Act. Unsubscribing from marketing email does not stop transactional email about an active booking. To stop all email, contact us directly.
Photography necessarily involves your image. How we may use photographs of you depends on the agreement or release that applies to your session:
Photograph ownership, licensing, and usage rights are addressed in our Terms & Conditions.
Sam Gross Studios does not sell your personal data, and we do not buy, sell, rent, trade, or share lead lists. We do not sell sensitive personal data, and we do not process personal data for targeted advertising or sale where we know the person is under 18 years of age.
We implement and maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the personal information we hold and to the nature and size of our business, as required by the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act. These include access controls, encryption of data in transit, restricted vendor access, and deletion of information we no longer need.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and you send information to us at your own risk.
Regardless of where you live, you may ask us to:
Email hello@samgrossstudios.com with the subject line "Privacy Request," or write to us at the address in Section 1. Tell us what you would like us to do and give us enough information to locate your records. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.
We respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we will tell you within that period and may extend once by a further 45 days. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and we may decline a request that is manifestly unfounded, excessive, or repetitive, or where an exception in law applies — in which case we will explain why.
If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision or emailing hello@samgrossstudios.com with the subject line "Privacy Appeal" within 45 days. We will respond in writing within 45 days of receiving the appeal, explaining the reasons for our decision. If we deny the appeal, we will give you a method to submit a complaint to your state Attorney General.
Sam Gross Studios is a Maryland business, and Maryland law shapes how we handle your information.
The Maryland Online Data Privacy Act took effect October 1, 2025, and applies to businesses that process the personal data of at least 35,000 Maryland consumers in a year, or 10,000 consumers where more than 20% of revenue comes from selling personal data. Sam Gross Studios currently operates below those thresholds. Even so, we have chosen to extend the substantive protections and consumer rights of MODPA to Maryland residents as a matter of policy. That means:
To exercise a MODPA right, follow the process in Section 13. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of an appeal, you may file a complaint with the Maryland Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division at marylandattorneygeneral.gov, by phone at (410) 528-8662, or by mail at 200 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21202.
PIPA requires us to maintain reasonable security for the personal information of Maryland residents, to protect it when we dispose of it, and to notify affected individuals and the Maryland Attorney General if a security breach creates a likelihood that personal information has been or will be misused. See Sections 12 and 17.
Maryland's Stop the Spam Calls Act (Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-3201 et seq.), effective January 1, 2024, requires prior express written consent — including a signature, which may be electronic — before a business may make a telephone solicitation to a Maryland resident, including by text message. It also requires that consumers be told that consent is not a condition of purchase. Our consent checkboxes are designed to meet that standard: they are unchecked by default, separate from each other, optional, and accompanied by a clear disclosure that names Sam Gross Studios and states that consent is not required to buy anything. Maryland also restricts solicitation calls and texts to the hours of 8:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. local time, and we observe those hours.
If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, or another state with a comprehensive consumer privacy law, you may have rights similar to those described in Section 13. We extend the rights in Section 13 to all U.S. residents regardless of state. California residents are additionally advised that we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we have not done so in the preceding 12 months.
Our website and services are directed to businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13, and we do not process the personal data of anyone we know to be under 18 for targeted advertising or sale. Minors are occasionally photographed at family or event sessions; in those cases we work through a parent or legal guardian, who provides any consent or release. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
If we discover a breach of the security of a system that compromises unencrypted personal information, we will conduct a good-faith investigation and, if we determine that misuse of the information has occurred or is reasonably likely to occur, notify affected individuals as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 45 days after we conclude the investigation, together with the Maryland Attorney General and any other regulator required by law, in accordance with the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act and other applicable breach notification laws.
Our site links to third-party websites and platforms — social media, galleries, scheduling, and payment pages. We do not control those sites, and this policy does not apply to them. Review their privacy policies before providing information.
We may update this Privacy Policy as our services, technology, or the law change. We will post the revised policy on this page and update the "Last updated" date above. Material changes affecting how we use information you already gave us will be communicated by email or text to the contact details we hold, where we have them. Continuing to use our site or services after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.
Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy:
Sam Gross Studios LLCSee also our Terms & Conditions.