Privacy policy
How we collect, use, and retain contact and site data.
Overview
Effective June 30, 2026. This privacy policy describes how LightWave Media LLC ("Lightwave Media", "we", "us") collects and uses personal information when you visit joelschaeffer.com or contact us on behalf of Joel E. Schaeffer.
We collect only what we need to operate the site, respond to professional enquiries, manage booking relationships, and follow up on work you have expressed interest in. We do not sell personal information.
Who we are
LightWave Media LLC operates joelschaeffer.com as the booking and representation desk for Joel E. Schaeffer, a cinematographer and photographer based in Los Angeles, California, United States.
For privacy questions or requests, contact [email protected].
What we collect
Depending on how you interact with the site, we may collect:
- Contact details you submit: first name, last name, email address, optional phone number, and your message.
- Enquiry context: whether your message relates to a booking, commission, or general enquiry.
- Email correspondence: replies to our team, auto-reply confirmations, and follow-up messages.
- Technical data processed automatically when you use the site: IP address, browser type, device information, and request metadata in server and security logs.
How we collect it
We collect information when you submit the contact form, reply to email from us, or otherwise communicate with our team. Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services process requests automatically when the site and contact API operate.
Why we use it
We use personal information for the following purposes:
- Respond to bookings, commissions, and other professional enquiries.
- Send an automated confirmation that we received your message.
- Manage professional relationships, sales follow-up, and our enquiry pipeline (including records kept in email and, in the future, an internal CRM).
- Operate, secure, and troubleshoot the website.
- Comply with law and enforce our terms.
We do not use your details for unrelated advertising. If we send promotional email about Joel's work, you may opt out at any time (see Your rights).
Legal bases (EEA, UK, and Switzerland)
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on the following legal bases under applicable data protection law:
- Contract and pre-contractual steps — to respond to an enquiry you initiate about professional work.
- Legitimate interests — to operate the site, maintain business records, and follow up on professional enquiries in a proportionate way. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Legal obligation — where retention or disclosure is required by law.
- Consent — only where we explicitly ask for it (for example, optional marketing beyond enquiry follow-up).
Who we share it with
We share personal information with service providers that process data on our behalf. We do not sell or rent personal information.
- Cloudflare — website hosting, content delivery, and edge security (global infrastructure).
- Amazon Web Services (Simple Email Service) — email delivery from us-east-1 (United States).
- Our email provider (Google Workspace) — storage and management of messages sent to and from our business addresses.
- Future processors — if we enable an internal CRM or contact platform, it will process enquiry data under contract and this policy will be updated before that processing begins.
International transfers
We are based in the United States. If you contact us from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States and in other countries where our processors operate. We use appropriate safeguards required by applicable law, including processor agreements with standard contractual clauses where relevant.
How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes above:
- Enquiry and lead records — up to 36 months after our last meaningful contact with you, unless you ask us to delete sooner.
- Client and project records — up to 7 years after the end of a project or last payment, where needed for tax, accounting, or legal claims.
- Opt-out and suppression records — as long as needed to honor your request not to be contacted.
- Server and security logs — for a limited period according to our providers' retention settings.
Email backups may retain copies for a limited time under our providers' policies even after we delete messages from active mailboxes.
Cookies and analytics
The site does not use advertising cookies or third-party analytics trackers in the page code today. Cloudflare may process technical data to deliver and protect the site. If we enable privacy-focused analytics in the future, we will update this policy before doing so.
Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of personal information we hold about you, and to object to or restrict certain processing.
Submit requests via the contact form at https://joelschaeffer.com/contact or email [email protected]. We aim to respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.
If you receive promotional email from us, you may opt out using the unsubscribe instructions in that message or by emailing us. We will honor opt-out requests within 10 business days.
If you are in the EEA or UK, you may lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), access limits for staff mailboxes, and reputable infrastructure providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.
Children
This site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted information, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always published on this page with an updated effective date. If we make a material change to how we use contact information — for example, enabling a new CRM or a new category of marketing — we will provide additional notice where required by law.
See also our Terms of Use at https://joelschaeffer.com/terms.