1. Welcome to iSurf.pics

Welcome to iSurf.pics, a dedicated online hub for sharing captivating surf photos. Our digital space is designed for the enjoyment and contribution of the general public, avid surfers, non-commercial professional photographers, and professional photographers alike. By accessing, using, or contributing to iSurf.pics, you are agreed to these comprehensive Service Provisions. If you do not agree, please refrain from using our platform.

2. Agreement to These Provisions

Your interaction with iSurf.pics, in any capacity, signifies your explicit consent to these Service Provisions. This document outlines the mutual understanding and legal framework governing your use of our services. Your continued use of the platform after any updates means you accept the revised terms.

3. Who Can Use iSurf.pics?

To ensure a safe and responsible environment, users must typically be at least 18 years old. If you are between 13 and 17, you may use iSurf.pics with the express permission and supervision of a parent or legal guardian. By proceeding, you affirm you meet these eligibility criteria.

4. Content Guidelines and Rights on iSurf.pics

4.1 Your Contributions (User Content)

Any photos, videos, text, or other materials you upload, post, or display on iSurf.pics are referred to as "User Content." You are solely responsible for all User Content you provide, ensuring you have all necessary permissions and rights to do so.

4.2 Ownership of Your Creations

You maintain full ownership and all intellectual property rights, including copyright, over your User Content. iSurf.pics does not claim to own the User Content you upload. However, by contributing to iSurf.pics, you grant us a broad, enduring, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable permission to use, reproduce, modify, display, distribute, and create derivative works from your User Content. This permission extends to supporting and promoting iSurf.pics, and notably, for commercial purposes to help cover the site's operating expenses, as detailed in Section 7.

This means that while your content remains yours, iSurf.pics has the right to utilise it commercially to ensure the platform's ongoing viability, even if you initially made it available for free.

4.3 Using Content Labelled "Free"

User Content explicitly marked as "free" on iSurf.pics is intended strictly for personal enjoyment and non-commercial purposes by other users. This permits activities such as private viewing, sharing among friends and family, or use as personal digital backgrounds. Critically, "free" content may not be used for any commercial gain or venture by the downloading user, unless separate, direct authorisation is secured from the content owner outside of iSurf.pics.

4.3.1 Fee for Community-Added Content

While community-added media is currently provided free of charge for personal and non-commercial use as outlined in 4.3, users acknowledge and agree that iSurf.pics reserves the right to introduce a future small charge per download to cover operational and infrastructure costs associated with hosting and maintaining the community-added media services. Users will be notified in accordance with Section 9 ("Changes to These Provisions") before this fee is implemented.

4.3.2 Commercial Use of Media

Standard pricing for media on iSurf.pics is for personal use only. If a photographer offers a commercial license price, it will be clearly displayed on the photo, and the media can be used for commercial purposes upon purchase of this license. If no commercial license price is displayed, you must contact iSurf.pics via the support system with the media link you are wanting to purchase to arrange pricing for commercial use.

4.4 iSurf.pics's Stance on Content Responsibility

iSurf.pics explicitly states that it does not own, endorse, or take responsibility for any User Content uploaded to the site. The material and opinions presented by users are their own, and iSurf.pics does not validate or condone them.

4.5 Content You Cannot Upload

To maintain a positive and legal environment, you must not upload, post, or share any User Content that is:

• Illegal or encourages unlawful activities.
• Rude, offensive, abusive, defamatory, hateful, or harassing.
• Obscene, sexually explicit, pornographic, or involves child exploitation.
• Infringing upon anyone's copyright, trademark, patent, or other intellectual property rights.
• A violation of another person's privacy or publicity rights.
• Designed to impersonate others or misrepresent your affiliation.
• Contains harmful software, viruses, or corrupted data.
• Inconsistent with the surf-photo sharing mission of iSurf.pics.

iSurf.pics reserves the right to remove any such content and take appropriate action, without prior notice, at our sole discretion.

4.6 Storage Fair Use and Limits

To ensure the sustainability and performance of our platform for all community members, iSurf.pics reserves the right to manage the amount of storage capacity utilised by individual accounts. If your User Content consumes excessive storage space or bandwidth (as determined by iSurf.pics at its sole discretion), we reserve the right to take the following actions:

• Media Removal: We may delete, archive, or compress User Content to bring your account within acceptable storage limits. We will generally attempt to notify you prior to permanent deletion to allow you time to back up your materials.
• Monthly Service Fee: Alternatively, iSurf.pics may offer you the option to retain your content on the platform subject to a monthly high-volume storage fee. Failure to agree to or pay this fee may result in the removal of the media as described above.

4.7 Image Optimisation and Archiving

To ensure the long-term sustainability and performance of the iSurf.pics platform, you acknowledge and agree that we reserve the right to reduce the size, resolution, or DPI (dots per inch) of any image after a certain period of time has elapsed since its upload. This is part of our archival and storage management strategy. While we will endeavor to maintain the original quality for a reasonable duration, older or less-accessed images may be optimised to conserve resources. We strongly recommend that you always keep your own high-resolution backups of any content you upload.

5. Our Limitations of Responsibility

Your experience on iSurf.pics is provided "as is" and "as available." We endeavour to provide a functional service, but cannot guarantee perfection.

5.1 Protection Against Content Loss

iSurf.pics cannot be held responsible for any loss, corruption, or deletion of your information, images, or other User Content. We strongly advise all users to maintain their own backup copies of all materials uploaded to the site to prevent unforeseen data loss.

5.2 Protection Against Financial or Other Damages

iSurf.pics will not be liable for any loss of income, lost profits, business interruption, or any other direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages that may arise from your use of, or inability to use, our services, or from any User Content, even if we were aware of the possibility of such damages.

6. Photographer Booking and Terms of Engagement

These terms govern the use of the iSurf.pics platform to book a photography shoot with an independent photographer (Photographer).

6.1 Payment and Pricing

• Pre-Authorisation: Payment for the shoot must be pre-authorised by the client at the time of booking.
• Charge Trigger: The client's account will be charged when the Photographer uploads the final, agreed-upon images to the iSurf.pics platform for the client to access.
• Pricing Finality: The price confirmed at the time of booking is final. Any changes to the scope of work (e.g., extending shoot time or requesting additional editing) must be mutually agreed upon via the internal messaging system and may result in an additional charge.

6.2 Cancellations, Rescheduling, and No-Shows

• Client Cancellation: A client may cancel a booking anytime up to 24 hours prior to the scheduled booking time for a full refund. Cancellations made less than 24 hours before the booking time may result in the forfeiture of the booking charge, as the Photographer cannot re-book the slot.
• Weather-Related Changes: A booking may need to be cancelled or rescheduled due to adverse weather or dangerous surf conditions at the Photographer's discretion. In this case, the client is entitled to a full refund or a free reschedule.
• Photographer No-Show/Late Arrival: The Photographer will wait a maximum of 30 minutes at the agreed-upon location. If the client does not arrive within this time, the booking is deemed a client no-show, and the fee may be forfeited.
• Photographer Cancellation: In the unlikely event the Photographer must cancel for any reason other than weather, the client is entitled to a full refund, including any iSurf.pics administration fees. iSurf.pics will facilitate this refund immediately.

6.3 Content Ownership and Usage

• Image License: The booking fee grants the client a non-exclusive, non-transferable license for personal, non-commercial use of the final images. Any commercial use (e.g., advertising, merchandise) requires a separate written agreement with the Photographer.
• Photographer's Rights: The Photographer retains full copyright of all images and reserves the right to use images from the shoot for their professional portfolio, website, and social media promotion.
• Logo Placement: iSurf.pics reserves the right to place our logo on any original media uploaded to the platform.
• Content Delivery & Style: The Photographer agrees to deliver the final images in their unique artistic style, including color correction and basic retouching, within the time frame specified in the booking details (typically 7-14 days).
• Media Retention Policy: Booking media that does not go public on the iSurf.pics platform may be archived or deleted after 6 months to manage storage capacity and platform sustainability. Additionally, any imagery may be removed without notice at iSurf.pics's discretion. Clients are strongly encouraged to download and back up their booking images promptly upon delivery.

6.4 Disputes and Liability

• Dispute Resolution: Any disputes regarding the content, quality, or delivery of the images are solely between the client and the Photographer and are not the responsibility of iSurf.pics.
• Mandatory Communication: Clients and Photographers must use the internal booking messaging system for all critical communication (location changes, timing, specific requests) to ensure a complete, traceable record is kept in case of an issue.
• Photographer Conduct and Legality: iSurf.pics serves as a platform to connect clients with photographers. We do not vet or endorse photographers and are not responsible for their professional conduct. Photographers are solely responsible for ensuring their services are delivered safely and in full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and local ordinances (e.g., obtaining necessary permits, adhering to drone flight restrictions). iSurf.pics shall not be held liable for any illegal, unsafe, or negligent acts committed by a photographer in the course of providing their services.
• Refund Process: iSurf.pics can only process and credit charges (less applicable administration fees) when the refund is explicitly approved by the Photographer and the corresponding refund money has been returned to the iSurf.pics account.
• Client Safety: The client is responsible for their own safety and the safety of their equipment while on location. The client must follow all reasonable instructions from the Photographer.

7. Monetisation and Financial Aspects

7.1 Supporting iSurf.pics Operations

To sustain our platform and its services, you acknowledge that iSurf.pics may sell content that users initially contributed for free for personal use. Commercial use licensing is handled as described in section 4.3.2. This mechanism is crucial for covering operational expenses and ensuring the continued availability and improvement of iSurf.pics.

7.2 Our Commission Structure

To support the ongoing growth and maintenance of the iSurf.pics platform, we apply a 20% commission fee on the total sale price of any photo or associated service sold through our marketplace, including photographer bookings. This platform fee is essential for us to continue providing a high-quality, reliable service. We believe in a transparent, success-based model, which is why we do not charge any monthly or subscription fees for using our platform. Our commission is only charged when you make a sale. Specific details regarding payment processes will be outlined in a separate Payment Terms document, which complements these provisions.

7.3 Pay What You Think It's Worth (Donations)

For free content, we may offer users the option to make a voluntary donation using a "Pay What You Think It's Worth" model. These contributions are paid directly to iSurf.pics to support ongoing growth, maintenance, development, and hosting, and are greatly appreciated. Please note that these donations are entirely optional and are not required to access or download free content.

8. Your Account's Security

You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your iSurf.pics account login details. Any activities occurring under your account are your responsibility. Please inform us immediately if you suspect any unauthorised access to your account.

9. Changes to These Provisions

iSurf.pics reserves the right to update or modify these Service Provisions at any time. We may notify you of any significant changes by posting the updated terms on our website. Your continued use of iSurf.pics after such changes indicates your agreement to the new provisions.

10. Concluding Points

These Service Provisions represent the complete agreement between you and iSurf.pics. Should any part of these provisions be deemed invalid, the remainder of the agreement will remain fully enforceable.

11. Get in Touch

For any questions, concerns, or feedback regarding these Service Provisions, please contact the iSurf.pics support team via the designated contact methods available on our website.