Terms & Conditions

1. Who provides the service and which bookings these Terms cover

Lucas Maximiliano Serpa, an individual providing photography and video services under the trade name ROOTS Photography ("ROOTS", "we", "us"), is your service provider. Contact: info@roots.photography. Phone/WhatsApp: +52 984 453 3472. Service hours: Monday to Sunday, 07:00 to 23:30 (Cancún time). Mailing address: Cerrada Stanyol Mz 6 Lt 22, Int 24, Real Ibiza, C.P. 77723, Playa del Carmen, Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

These Terms apply to individual photography sessions and photography sessions with a Reel booked directly with ROOTS, unless a custom proposal, accepted before purchase, sets out specific conditions. Weddings, planner arrangements, and other special contracts may have separate terms and are not automatically changed by this document. Your package, price, and included deliverables are identified before you pay your deposit.

2. Booking, express acceptance, and deposit

The booking form lets you select a preferred date and start time; ROOTS confirms the exact start time based on the light, location access, and session conditions. Your agreed date and light window are secured once the deposit is confirmed and ROOTS accepts the assignment.

Before payment, you will see a required checkbox that is not pre-checked, with visible links to the Spanish and English versions of these Terms. The booking will retain the version of these Terms you accepted, in Spanish and English, along with the acceptance date, time, selected language, and link to the booking and checkout. ROOTS keeps the exact text of each published version unmodified. Payment alone does not replace express acceptance.

All prices, deposits, fees, and charges published or quoted by ROOTS are total amounts that include VAT (IVA) and any other applicable tax. Package prices, the deposit, and Express are stated in US dollars (USD) and are also shown in Mexican pesos (MXN) as a reference equivalent, calculated using the Banco de México “Para pagos” exchange rate for the date shown next to the price. Those obligations are denominated in USD; charges these Terms state in MXN, such as the second-mobilization fee, are payable in MXN; if you pay in MXN, it is discharged by paying the equivalent amount at the exchange rate in effect on the payment date, in accordance with Article 8 of Mexico’s Monetary Law. ROOTS will issue the corresponding Mexican electronic tax receipt (CFDI) for each payment; if you need a CFDI with your tax details, please tell us when booking.

Your deposit is displayed before payment. Under the current catalog rule, it equals 30% of the package price in USD, rounded down to the nearest USD 5 increment, with a USD 50 minimum. The deposit is applied toward the total price. If you cancel voluntarily, outside the cases in this section that allow a refund, ROOTS will retain the deposit as a liquidated cancellation charge (pena convencional), to the extent permitted by law; you can apply it to an eligible reschedule under section 3. Nothing here removes non-waivable consumer rights.

If the session date is more than ten business days after the date you place your booking (purchase order), you may revoke it without any liability within five business days after your express acceptance of these Terms or, if later, ROOTS’ confirmation of the booking, by notifying info@roots.photography; in that case we will refund everything you paid in full. This right does not apply when the session is scheduled ten business days or less after the purchase order date.

If you cannot attend because of a duly evidenced act of God or force majeure (for example, cancellation of your flight for reasons beyond your control, an official weather alert preventing travel, or a documented medical emergency), the cancellation will not be treated as voluntary: you may apply the amount paid as a credit under this section or, if you prefer, request a refund.

A transferred deposit remains a credit for 12 months from the originally scheduled session date. The price of the package originally booked remains valid for that service; upgrades or new services need a separate agreement and quote. We will not ask for another deposit for an amount already covered by your credit. If the credit is not used within that window, any expiry is subject to the applicable legal requirements.

3. Voluntary rescheduling and second mobilization

You may request one voluntary reschedule with at least 48 hours' notice, at no extra charge and subject to availability. We may also accept a request with less than 48 hours' notice, depending on availability. When the photographer has not yet mobilized, an accepted change has no additional fee; in either case it uses your one voluntary reschedule and preserves your deposit credit under section 2.

If you request a change after the photographer has actually begun traveling to the assignment and a second visit is necessary, ROOTS may offer a new date with an additional second-mobilization fee, explained to you and expressly accepted before the reschedule is confirmed. This applies only to a voluntary client change, not to weather, causes attributable to ROOTS, or changes that do not require a second mobilization. The first ordinary trip is already included within our published service area.

Distance is measured from the logistics starting point for the assigned coverage, not the photographer's private home. When we offer the fee, we will tell you the recorded departure time and the one-way road distance applied. The fee is additional: the change still uses your one voluntary reschedule and preserves your deposit credit. Exceptional third-party costs actually required for the replacement session are separate only if disclosed and accepted before being incurred; we will never charge twice for the same item.

4. Weather, safety, and interrupted sessions

We do not cancel a session based on a rain forecast alone. We assess actual conditions, accessibility, and safety. An official storm or hurricane warning from Mexico's National Meteorological Service (SMN/Conagua), an unsafe or inaccessible location, or active rain that prevents coverage may require a change of plan. Nobody is required to shoot in unsafe conditions.

If weather prevents the session from starting, we will work with you on a reasonable alternative date or time during your stay, without using your one voluntary reschedule or charging a second-mobilization fee. If ROOTS cannot provide the service and no viable alternative is accepted during your stay, we will refund amounts paid for the unprovided service in accordance with your legal rights.

If rain begins during a session, and it is safe and both parties agree, we may pause for up to approximately 15 minutes without deducting that pause from your booked coverage time. If we cannot continue, our first option is to complete only the remaining part of the service without another session fee, where feasible. This does not amount to a free replacement of the whole session after a substantial portion has already been provided.

If completing the remaining service is not feasible, we will calculate a refund for what was contracted but could not be performed or delivered, without deducting the same item twice. For photo-only packages, valuation is split into 50% of coverage time and 50% of the promised edited photographs; the undelivered share of each component is assessed proportionally.

For photography + Reel packages, the respective values of photography and the Reel will be established and disclosed in writing before booking, by allocating the total package price between both components in proportion to their verified production costs. Any refund is calculated based on the price actually paid, not internal production costs. The photography portion uses the 50/50 method above. The Reel is valued as a complete deliverable, not by the number of minutes of the photo session. If the captured footage supports the complete contracted Reel, ROOTS will produce and deliver it without reducing its value because photography time was shortened. If footage is insufficient, ROOTS will offer to complete the necessary filming without charging again for the same Reel. If completing and delivering the Reel is not feasible, ROOTS will refund the allocated value of the undelivered Reel, subject to the customer’s legal rights. A shortened or modified Reel is not a standard contractual remedy.

For Journey Collection, the accepted proposal must separately identify the components, deliverables, and their values in advance; no universal formula applies. Rights and remedies granted by law always prevail.

5. Client punctuality and delays attributable to ROOTS

Please arrive on time and tell us as soon as possible if you are running late. Our maximum waiting periods are as follows, and ROOTS will record attempted contacts:

For Journey Collection, arrival grace periods will be set individually and communicated when the itinerary is confirmed in writing. When a grace period is exhausted, ROOTS will make and reasonably document contact attempts before considering the client a no-show, which we will notify you of in writing (email or message). Exceeding the grace period does not by itself create a new or automatic penalty; the applicable booking terms and legal rights govern.

Client lateness reduces the time available for photography and does not automatically extend the originally confirmed end time. If the client fails to attend for reasons not attributable to ROOTS, the cancellation and deposit rules apply, without creating any additional charge or automatic forfeiture of the full price under this clause, and always within legal limits.

If ROOTS or the photographer is more than 15 minutes late, we will try to make up the lost time if the light and logistics still allow a good session. If the delay exceeds 30 minutes or prevents an acceptable session due to light or other conditions, we will offer a free reschedule, without using your one voluntary reschedule or charging a second-mobilization fee. If you decide not to proceed because of that delay and decline rescheduling, and the session does not take place, we will refund the amount you paid, together with the applicable statutory compensation under section 14 where due. Lateness by itself does not trigger an automatic refund if the session goes ahead. Where part of the service has taken place, any remedy must reflect what was actually provided and your applicable legal rights.

6. Travel, access fees, and location permissions

Our ordinary travel is included within and between our published covered destinations: Cancún, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Tulum, Isla Mujeres, and Cozumel. Travel outside these destinations is quoted before booking.

Location-specific third-party costs are not included in the package price. Examples include ferries, special taxis or transfers required for hotel or island access, cenote or protected-area admission, beach-club charges, resort or vendor access fees, day passes, and permits. Known costs will be itemized before booking; any further expense requires disclosure and your express acceptance before it is incurred.

For hotel or resort sessions, you arrange any permission or authorization required by the property. ROOTS will reasonably assist with the information needed and may propose a public beach or another viable location if access is restricted. We cannot guarantee a third party's permission or availability.

7. Balance, payment methods, and optional tips

Your balance is the agreed total package price less the confirmed deposit and any applicable credit. You may pay cash at the end of the session (USD or MXN), or use Stripe within one hour after the session actually ends. If you notify us of a specific payment difficulty before the first hour ends, the deadline may be extended to two hours after the session. Neither method is favored. If payment is not made on time, the unpaid balance remains due and the section 8 access restrictions apply, without any unagreed automatic late fee.

If the balance is denominated in USD and you choose to pay cash in MXN, the peso amount will be calculated using the Banco de México “Para pagos” exchange rate published for the payment date, without any exchange spread, markup, or fee. Before accepting cash, we will tell you the MXN total, the rate applied, and its date, and give you a record of the calculation and payment. If you pay cash in USD, the exact USD amount will be received. Stripe payments are processed in the currency and with the conversion the processor shows you before you confirm the transaction.

ROOTS will automatically email your Stripe balance link 15 minutes after the confirmed session start time. We send it early so that you have it ready when your session ends; you do not need to pay or look at your phone while being photographed. Receiving the link does not mean the balance is due during the session. We will prevent duplicate emails and charges if the session is canceled, rescheduled, or already fully paid.

Stripe may let you leave an entirely voluntary tip. A tip is not part of the balance, is never required, and will be identified separately. The final payment currency and any conversion shown by the payment provider must be disclosed before you confirm payment. ROOTS will issue refunds through the same payment method used, unless you accept another, within 10 business days after the refund becomes due (crediting to a card may take additional time depending on the issuing bank); cash refunds will be made in the same currency received, for the amount due (full or proportionate for partial refunds). Any shorter legally mandatory deadline prevails. Refunds will be reconciled against the actual payment and documented.

8. Deliverables, turnaround times, and access after payment

Each package specifies its deliverables and included quantity of edited photographs. ROOTS selects, edits, and prepares a 5-to-10-photo sneak peek within 24 hours after the actual session end. This preparation deadline continues to run from the actual end even if the balance has not yet been paid; client access or release remains subject to the payment gate in this section.

Photo-only couple or family packages have a preparation and delivery deadline for the photographs included in the package of 3 days (72 hours) after the actual session end. Couple or family packages with a Reel, including Proposal & Luxury, have a 5-day (120-hour) deadline for their included gallery and Reel. Customized projects keep the specific written deadline communicated in their booking confirmation. Couple and family packages listed in the catalog in effect at booking, excluding Journey, may add Express for USD 100 only after ROOTS confirms, before offering or charging for it, that the team can meet the deadline. Express means complete delivery of every included item, including a Reel when applicable, within 24 hours of the later of the actual session end and the time Express was ordered. Journey Collection (one or two days) has its own full-delivery deadline agreed in writing for that booking and has no standard Express option. If ROOTS misses the Express deadline for reasons attributable to ROOTS, it will refund the Express fee in full and pay the compensation provided in section 14 calculated on that fee; the remaining deliverables will be delivered within their standard deadline and, if any of them is delivered late for reasons attributable to ROOTS, the corresponding compensation will be calculated on the package price.

Deadlines and unpaid balances. These deadlines do not pause or restart because a balance is unpaid: ROOTS must prepare the deliverables on time internally. Where a past-due balance remains unpaid solely for reasons attributable to the client, withholding access during that non-payment does not, by itself, constitute late delivery attributable to ROOTS. Once full payment is confirmed, ROOTS will release already-prepared material without unjustified delay. This exception does not cover delays caused by ROOTS, payment record/reconciliation errors, or processor issues outside the client’s control.

No photograph or video will be shown, shared, or made accessible to the client until ROOTS confirms full payment of the balance. Confirmation requires a Stripe payment record or, for cash, a receipt recorded by ROOTS. This includes view-only sneak peeks, selection galleries, access links, downloads, and Reels. ROOTS may select and edit materials internally before payment. Withholding access does not remove ROOTS’ obligations or the customer’s non-waivable legal rights.

9. Selection gallery, editing, and additional photographs

Each package includes the number of final edited photographs stated at booking. After the session, ROOTS may publish a private selection gallery with more images than the package includes. A photograph appearing in that gallery does not mean its file is included, delivered, or licensed.

Images in the selection gallery may carry a visible watermark; ROOTS decides, session by session, whether to use one. The watermark exists only so you can review and choose: the photographs included in your package and any additional photographs you buy are delivered edited, in high resolution, and without a watermark. ROOTS makes no promise to prevent screenshots.

ROOTS may offer additional selected and edited photographs, but they are not guaranteed: some sessions will have them and some will not, and ROOTS may decide not to offer them. If they are offered, you will see the price and what you receive before you buy. Buying them is always optional, and not buying them does not affect delivery of the photographs included in your package.

ROOTS may also offer, or not offer, a Full Gallery Upgrade. It is a separate offer from additional photographs: the existence of additional photographs does not mean a Full Gallery Upgrade exists, and the offer is not guaranteed. When one is offered, the offer itself will identify the set of final edited photographs it covers. It does not include every frame shot, discarded images, duplicates, test shots, technically failed files, or RAW files.

Editing follows ROOTS' photographic style, including lighting and color treatment and the reasonable removal of distractions where appropriate. Extensive cosmetic Photoshop retouching or facial/body transformations are not included; exceptional requests may be separately quoted and accepted. RAW files are not part of client deliverables unless specifically agreed in writing.

10. Photograph, video, and licensing rights

For purposes of Article 83 of Mexico’s Federal Copyright Law, the parties expressly agree that booking the session does not transfer to the client ownership of the economic rights in the photographs and videos. Those rights belong to ROOTS or are exercised by ROOTS under its agreements with the collaborators involved, without prejudice to the moral rights of their authors. Upon full payment, you receive a personal, non-commercial, non-exclusive, worldwide license to the photographs included in your package, any additional photographs you buy, and the videos in the service you booked, once delivered, for a term of 15 years from delivery, renewable at no cost upon the customer's request. Viewing a photograph in a selection gallery is not delivery of the file and does not grant you a license to that image. Renewing the license does not extend file-retention periods or require ROOTS to restore files that are no longer available.

Commercial use (business campaigns, business promotions, advertisements, or other exploitation linked to a brand or commercial activity) requires a separate written license, individually quoted based on the project, purpose, media, duration, and scope before such use. There is no single published commercial fee. We appreciate being credited as ROOTS Photography when you share our work, but credit is a courtesy, not a condition of your authorized personal use.

11. ROOTS' use of your likeness and sessions involving minors

Your personal license does not automatically grant ROOTS permission to publish your likeness. Use of your photographs or video for our portfolio, website, or social channels is requested separately; use in paid advertising requires another specific authorization. You may decline these permissions without losing your contracted deliverables. Withdrawal procedures and their effect follow the particular consent and applicable law.

If a session includes minors, any promotional publication or advertising by ROOTS using a minor's likeness requires express permission from an identified parent or legal guardian who has authority to grant it. Without that permission, minors' images will not be used by ROOTS for promotional publication.

12. File retention, galleries, and privacy

These are three separate periods. Your online gallery is available for 30 days after publication. During that time you can open it and download the photographs included in your package or that you bought, under the access and payment conditions of these Terms. After that window, ROOTS does not guarantee that the gallery stays online or can be reactivated. Download and keep your files within the window. Separately, ROOTS keeps original RAW files internally for 6 months after the session and final edited JPEGs for 12 months after delivery. Keeping a file does not require ROOTS to keep the gallery published or guarantee it will be reactivated. If ROOTS still has the files, it may try to restore a gallery, but it does not promise to. The internal retention periods are minimum commitments, not guarantees of later recovery. Once they end, we do not guarantee that files or galleries remain available. When files are no longer needed for the purposes disclosed, ROOTS will block and delete them in accordance with Mexico’s Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties and its Privacy Notice, except for images you have expressly authorized for portfolio or advertising use, which will be kept for as long as that authorization remains in effect.

Personal data and images, including those of minors, are handled under our Privacy Notice: https://roots.photography/privacy. That notice explains applicable data rights and how to contact us about them.

13. Assigned team and individual commitments

ROOTS may assign a member of its team or an external collaborator to cover your session and will tell you before the session who has been assigned. If your booking expressly included a specific photographer, any substitution changing that commitment will be agreed with you in advance. ROOTS remains your contracting service provider.

Video work performed by collaborators and customized sessions remain subject to the deliverables, prices, and conditions stated in the accepted proposal. A change in personnel or method does not allow ROOTS to reduce included deliverables without your agreement.

14. Liability, force majeure, and consumer rights

We provide our services with professional care. Events outside our reasonable control, including severe weather and third-party venue closures, will be handled with safety first and using the alternatives described in these Terms. We will not automatically treat operational errors or delays attributable to ROOTS as force majeure. If ROOTS cancels or cannot provide the service for its own reasons or force majeure other than weather, we will offer a free reschedule without using your one voluntary reschedule or charging a second-mobilization fee; if that is not feasible or you decline and the session does not take place, we will refund what you paid, subject to your legal rights. Responsibilities and remedies are governed by applicable law.

Where the service is not provided, is provided deficiently, or is delivered after the committed deadline for reasons attributable to ROOTS, in addition to any reschedule, repeat session, or refund due under these Terms, you are entitled to the compensation (bonificación) provided in Articles 92 Bis and 92 Ter of Mexico’s Federal Consumer Protection Law, which will not be less than twenty percent of the price paid, without prejudice to any damages that are legally owed. This compensation does not apply where the failure results from an act of God, force majeure, or causes attributable to you.

ROOTS is liable to you, in accordance with applicable law, for failure to perform its obligations. Without limiting that liability, if photographs or videos are lost or damaged before delivery for reasons attributable to ROOTS, ROOTS will offer, at your choice, to repeat the affected part of the session at no cost where feasible, or to refund the portion of the price corresponding to what was not delivered, in either case with the compensation provided in this section and without prejudice to any damages that are legally owed.

15. Applicable version, governing law, and contact

These Terms are entered into in Spanish, which is the contractual version for all legal purposes. ROOTS provides a complete and faithful English translation, which you may select as your reading and acceptance language; by accepting, you accept both versions as a single agreement. If there is any discrepancy between them, the interpretation more favorable to you as a consumer will apply. ROOTS will retain the exact text of both versions, the reading language you selected, the acceptance date and time, and their link to the booking. Later changes apply only to new bookings after they take effect, unless a valid subsequent agreement is made; we do not impose new conditions retroactively. Commercial licenses already granted under earlier versions retain the terms under which they were granted.

These Terms are construed under the applicable laws of Mexico. Disputes shall be submitted to the competent courts of Quintana Roo only to the extent that this choice is legally enforceable; no non-waivable consumer rights or mandatory consumer-protection forums are waived, including those applicable to foreign customers. You may file complaints with Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Agency (PROFECO). Questions: info@roots.photography.

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