Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

Welcome to Avodah Photo + Cinema LTD (avodah.co.nz). We are a creative agency specialising in marketing and wedding services. Because our work revolves around capturing stories, filming milestones, and elevating brands, we understand just how important your personal information, photos, and footage are.

We are fully committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data with care, transparency, and respect. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your personal information in strict compliance with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and its 13 Information Privacy Principles (IPPs).

Who This Policy Applies To

This policy covers personal information we collect from:

• Visitors to our website (avodah.co.nz).

• People who subscribe to our email newsletters, updates, or download our resources.

• Prospective and current clients.

• Anyone who contacts us through any channel, including email, phone, social media, or contact forms.

• End customers of our clients: Where we handle or process data on a marketing client’s behalf as part of our contracted services, such as when running digital advertising campaigns, managing email databases, or setting up landing pages. In these situations, our client acts as the primary data controller, and their privacy policy governs how that data is used. We act strictly as a service provider and only process that data to deliver our contracted work securely.

1. The Types of Personal Information We Collect

We only collect information that is necessary for us to run our website, communicate with you, and deliver our creative services effectively. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

• Contact Details: Your name, email address, phone number, business name, and postal address.

• Communication Content: Messages, briefs, or inquiries you send us through our website contact forms, direct emails, or social media platforms.

• Website Usage & Technical Data: Your IP address, browser type, device information, approximate location, pages you visit, and your interactions with our content.

• Client Photos and Footage (Creative Assets): As a photo and cinema agency, the visual media we capture of you, your wedding guests, or your team members inherently contains personal information like your likeness and image. We treat these creative assets with the same high level of security and privacy as your text-based data.

2. How and Why We Collect This Information

We collect your personal information through transparent, lawful means:

• Directly from you: When you fill out an inquiry form, subscribe to our newsletter, or officially engage us for a project.

• Automatically: When you browse our website, via cookies and tracking pixels.

Why We Collect It:

• To respond to your inquiries, provide accurate service quotes, and deliver our contracted photography, cinema, or marketing services.

• To send marketing emails, campaign updates, and creative insights to people who have subscribed. You can easily opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link.

• To run targeted, relevant advertising campaigns for our own business.

• To analyse website traffic and user patterns so we can continuously improve our website’s performance.

• To manage invoicing, billing, and standard business accounting in compliance with New Zealand tax laws.

Portfolio, Website, and Social Media Use

We love showcasing the beautiful stories, weddings, and promotional content we capture across our platforms.

• Default Marketing Rights: By default, our standard client service agreements and contracts grant us the right and authorisation to use your completed photos and video footage in our public portfolio, website, and social media channels for marketing purposes.

• Honouring Your Request to Opt-Out: We deeply respect your personal preferences. If you do not wish to be featured in our public domain, you have the right to request that your material remain private, and we will fully honour that request without hesitation.

• How to Notify Us: You can make this request before your project begins, during production, or at any stage afterwards. If you choose to opt out of our public showcase, your images and footage will remain strictly confidential and will only be shared privately with you. Should your material already be published and you change your mind later, simply contact us and we will promptly remove the media from our public channels.

3. Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising Tools (The Meta & Google Side)

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to help our site function properly, let us understand how visitors interact with our content, and allow us to display relevant advertisements to you online.

The primary digital tracking tools we use include:

• Meta Pixel and Meta Ads: We use the Meta Pixel (covering Facebook and Instagram tracking) to measure the effectiveness of our social media advertising and show relevant, targeted ads to people who have previously visited our site. This data is anonymised to us. You can manage your Meta ad preferences directly within your Facebook or Instagram account settings.

• Google Analytics and Google Ads: We use these tools to measure website traffic and deploy tailored search or display advertising. Google may place cookies that recognise your digital device across various websites. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking at any time by installing the browser extension at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and manage your overall Google ad personalisation settings at adssettings.google.com.

4. Disclosing Information to Third Parties & Delivery Platforms

We do not sell, lease, or rent your personal information to third parties. We only share data with trusted service providers who are crucial to running our agency operations and delivering your completed files.

In strict compliance with Information Privacy Principle 12 (IPP 12), we ensure that any third-party tools we use look after your data securely. Because some of these platforms operate globally, your data may be securely transferred and stored on cloud servers located overseas, primarily in Australia or the United States. We only partner with providers that maintain top-tier data protection policies.

Our core service and media delivery platforms include:

5. How We Store, Protect, and Retain Your Data & Creative Assets

We take comprehensive steps to ensure your textual data and your raw/final visual assets are heavily protected against loss, unauthorised access, or modification.

• Data Security: Our administrative systems and client databases are kept safe using secure, cloud-based networks protected by robust passwords, mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA), and strict internal access controls. Only Avodah team members who actively need access to delivery services can see your data.

• Photo and Footage Storage: Your raw and finalised photos and video footage are archived across our secure local network storage and our protected private cloud system hosted via Synology. Access to these files is strictly restricted to active Avodah production team members working on your project.

• Retention Periods: We retain contact details and communication logs only for as long as we reasonably need them to fulfil the objectives outlined in this policy. Standard business accounting and tax records are held securely for seven years as required by New Zealand Inland Revenue law. When no longer required, data is permanently deleted or securely anonymised.

  • Photos and Footage: Final delivered images and films are retained on our Synology storage systems for a set period following project delivery (as specified in your individual client service contract) to protect against accidental loss or to allow you to request backup copies. Raw unedited footage and project files are typically archived or securely deleted after a specified timeline post-delivery, also outlined in your contract.

6. Your Rights Under the NZ Privacy Act 2020

You maintain complete ownership and control over your personal data. Under New Zealand privacy law, you have the right to:

1. Request access to any personal information or creative assets we securely hold about you.

2. Request correction of your information if you believe it is incorrect, outdated, or incomplete.

3. Withdraw consent for any marketing communications or public portfolio use at any exact moment.

4. Request deletion of your personal information, subject to any legal, operational, or tax retention obligations we must abide by.

To exercise any of these rights, please drop our team an email using the contact details provided below. In alignment with the statutory guidelines of the Privacy Act, we will formally evaluate and respond to your request within 20 working days.

7. Mandatory Privacy Breach Notification

While we employ strict industry-standard protocols to protect your data, no system is entirely impenetrable. If a privacy breach occurs that causes—or is highly likely to cause—serious harm to you, we will act immediately. In line with our legal obligations, we will notify you directly and inform the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner as soon as practicable.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may occasionally adjust or update this Privacy Policy to reflect shifts in our day-to-day creative operations or changes in local digital compliance laws. Any modifications will be posted directly to this web page with a corresponding updated “Last updated” date displayed at the top.

9. Contact Details for Privacy Inquiries or Complaints

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your legal right to access or fix your details, or want to raise a privacy matter, please reach out directly to us:

• Business Name: Avodah Photo + Cinema LTD

• Website: avodah.co.nz

• Email: info@avodah.co.nz

• Postal Address: 14 Coleman Place, Palmerston North

If you feel we have not resolved your privacy concern appropriately, you have the right to lodge an official complaint with the Office of the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner online at www.privacy.org.nz or via telephone on 0800 803 909.