Terms of Service

By using this site you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the site or send us a form.

You must be at least 16 years old. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian should have your back and review these terms with you. You also confirm that the details you send us are true and belong to you.

Behind The Lens Site is a storytelling project: podcast conversations, portrait photography and a print edition. The site exists to introduce the work and to receive submissions. Nothing on it is an offer of employment, a publishing contract, or a confirmed booking, and no payment is taken here.

You keep ownership of everything you write, photograph or share with us. By sending it, you give Behind The Lens Site a non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to read, edit, publish and promote it across the podcast, the print edition, this website and our social channels, with your name attached unless you ask otherwise.

You confirm that:

• ◆the material is yours, or you have permission to send it;
• ◆it is accurate to the best of your knowledge;
• ◆it does not infringe anyone else's rights, and it does not include another person's private information without their agreement.

You can withdraw a submission before it is published by emailing us. After publication, changes are up to us, and we will use our judgement about what stays online.

Applying does not guarantee an episode, a portrait sitting or a place in the print edition. Guests are chosen at our discretion, and we may not be able to reply to every application.

Sending the booking form is a request, not a reservation. A call only exists once we have confirmed it by email. Calls run Monday to Friday, 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, in 15, 30 or 60 minute lengths, and we can reschedule or cancel a request if something clashes.

Please arrive on time and give us a heads-up by email if you need to move it. These calls are conversation and feedback — they are not professional, legal, medical, financial or mental-health advice.

You agree not to:

• ◆send unlawful, harassing, hateful, defamatory or knowingly false material;
• ◆submit the same form repeatedly, or use it to send unsolicited messages;
• ◆impersonate anyone, or send someone else's work as your own;
• ◆copy, scrape or mirror the site, or its photographs, without written permission;
• ◆try to break, disable or interfere with the site or its forms.

The design, writing, photographs, logos and layout belong to Behind The Lens Site or to the photographers and contributors who licensed them to us. You are welcome to share a link or quote a short passage with credit. You may not reproduce, sell or use our material commercially without written permission.

We link to Instagram and YouTube. Those destinations are run by other companies with their own rules and privacy practices, and we are not responsible for them.

The site is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind. We do not promise it will be error-free or always online. Views shared by guests are their own and do not represent Behind The Lens Site.

To the fullest extent the law allows, Behind The Lens Site is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential losses, or lost profits, arising from your use of the site or from material submitted through it. Since the site is free to use, that is the whole of our exposure.

If you send us something that breaks these terms or someone else's rights, and a claim follows, you agree to cover the reasonable costs of dealing with it.

We may update these terms. The “Last updated” date above shows the current version, and using the site after a change means you accept it.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be handled in the state or federal courts located in New York County, New York. Either of us can still bring a small-claims case where the other person lives.

Questions about these terms, or anything on the site: behindthelens.site@gmail.com.