Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 1, 2026
Last updated: October 23, 2026

The short version

We run a small underwater photography and film studio. This website asks for your details only when you choose to send them, and we use them to answer you, to look after your booking, and (if you sign up) to send you our newsletter. We do not sell your personal information. We use Google Analytics to count visits and the Meta Pixel to measure and reach people with our advertising, and a handful of outside services help us run the site and our business. This page explains each of those in plain language.

If anything here is unclear, write to us at [email protected] and a real person will answer.

Who we are

This website, www.submergeunderwater.com, is run by Justin Tucker Lutsky, doing business as Submerge Underwater (“Submerge”, “we”, “us”). Our studio is in Fullerton, California.

Mailing address: 4273 W Oak Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833 Email: [email protected] Phone: (714) 343-4898

What we collect, and how

1. What you tell us

Contact form. When you use the contact form, we collect your first and last name, email address, the kind of session or trip you are interested in, your message, and, if you choose to give them, your phone number and a preferred date.

Newsletter sign-up. When you join our newsletter, from the newsletter page, the end of a journal post, a past-event page, or the pop-up, we collect your first name and email address, and, if you choose to give them, your last name and phone number.

Email, phone and social messages. If you email us, call us, or message us on Instagram or Facebook, we get whatever you send, plus the details that come with it (your email address, phone number, or account name).

Bookings, contracts, invoices and galleries. Booking a session, workshop or trip, signing a contract, paying an invoice, and viewing your photo gallery all happen on our client system, Sprout Studio (see “Who else sees your information” below). What we collect there depends on what you book, and may include your address, payment details handled by the payment processor, travel details, and the content of your contract. For workshops and trips we also ask for your name as it appears on your passport, an emergency contact, dietary needs, your dive certification, and your dive and travel insurance details. Guests who dive also complete a medical questionnaire, which asks about their health. We use all of this only to run your trip.

2. What the website collects automatically

Analytics. We use Google Analytics 4 to see how many people visit, which pages they read, and roughly where visitors come from. Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser and receives information such as your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you view, how you arrived at the site, and an approximate location (city or region level). We use this only to understand and improve our site. We do not use it for advertising. Google keeps event-level analytics data for no more than 14 months and then deletes it.

Advertising measurement (Meta Pixel). We use the Meta Pixel, a tool from Meta (Facebook and Instagram), to see which visitors came from our ads and to show our ads to people who have visited the site. When it loads, Meta receives your IP address, browser and device details, the pages you view, and a cookie that identifies your browser. It does not receive what you type into our contact or newsletter forms. We do not run ads at the moment; the pixel is in place for when we do. It does not load if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal.

Hosting. Our site runs on Cloudflare. Like every web host, Cloudflare receives your IP address and technical details about each request (browser, device, page asked for) so it can deliver the page, keep the site secure, and block abuse. Cloudflare also handles our forms in the moment you press send, passing your message on to Sprout Studio. We do not keep a copy of form submissions on our own website server.

Videos. Our videos are hosted on YouTube. Until you press play, no video player is loaded. However, the preview picture for each video is fetched from YouTube’s servers, so Google can see your IP address and the fact that your browser requested that image when you open a page that has a video. When you press play, the YouTube player loads (from YouTube’s privacy-enhanced domain, youtube-nocookie.com), and YouTube’s own policy then applies to what you watch.

Reviews. The Reviews page shows customer reviews through a service called Trustindex. Loading that page loads Trustindex’s code, so Trustindex receives your IP address and browser details.

Saved settings on your device. Our newsletter pop-up uses your browser’s local storage (not a cookie) to remember how many pages you have viewed, whether you closed the pop-up, and whether you have already signed up. That way we do not ask you twice. This information stays on your device and is not sent to us. You can clear it at any time in your browser settings.

3. What we do not collect

We do not build advertising profiles of our own, and we do not sell your information. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The site has no user accounts or logins, and we do not take payments directly on this website.

Why we use your information

To reply to your inquiry, quote a session, and plan your shoot or trip.
To book, contract, invoice, deliver your photos, and run workshops and trips.
To send you our newsletter and event announcements, if you signed up.
To understand how the website is used, fix problems, and improve it.
To keep the site and our business secure, and prevent spam and abuse. (Our forms use a hidden spam trap and a timer rather than a CAPTCHA.)
To meet legal, tax, and accounting obligations.

If we ever want to use your information for a different purpose, we will tell you first.

Who else sees your information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it with the services that help us run Submerge, and only as needed for that. The one exception is the Meta Pixel (see the table), which Meta also uses under its own policy:

Who	Why	Their policy
Sprout Studio (our client management system)	Receives contact-form and newsletter details, and holds client records, bookings, contracts, invoices, galleries, and the emails we send.	getsproutstudio.com/privacy-policy
Stripe (the payment processor inside Sprout Studio)	Takes card and bank payments. We never see or store full card numbers.	stripe.com/privacy
Cloudflare	Hosts this website and handles form submissions in transit.	cloudflare.com/privacypolicy
Google (Analytics and YouTube)	Website analytics, and video hosting.	policies.google.com/privacy
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)	Receives visit details through the Meta Pixel so our ads can be measured and shown to people who visited. Not sent when your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal.	facebook.com/privacy/policy
Trustindex	Displays customer reviews on the Reviews page.	trustindex.io/privacy-policy
Deep Blue Adventures (our travel partner)	If you book a trip or workshop that is arranged with them, we share the details they need to arrange your travel, such as your name, contact details, travel dates and any information needed for flights, rooms, and dive operations. That can include your name as it appears on your passport, your emergency contact, your dietary needs, your dive certification and your dive and travel insurance details, and any forms the dive operator requires, such as the PADI medical questionnaire.	deepblueadventures.com/privacy-policy
Professionals and authorities	Our accountant, lawyer or insurer where needed, and the government where the law requires it.	n/a

If our business were ever sold or merged, your information could transfer to the new owner, who would have to honor this policy.

We may also disclose information if we believe it is needed to protect someone’s safety, enforce our contracts, or respond to a lawful request.

Cookies and tracking

Cookies. The cookies on this site come from Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and you can install Google’s opt-out tool at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Blocking cookies will not stop the site from working.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. Some browsers send a “Do Not Track” or Global Privacy Control signal. When your browser sends either signal, our site does not load the Meta Pixel. Google Analytics still counts the visit.
Links to other sites. Our site links to other sites, such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Sprout Studio, and Deep Blue Adventures. They have their own privacy practices, and we do not control them.

If you sign up, we will send you news, stories, and trip announcements. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also reply or write to [email protected] to be removed. We act on unsubscribes promptly, and in any case within 10 business days. If you unsubscribe from the newsletter, we may still email you about a booking you have made.

We use the phone number you give us only to reply to your inquiry or to run a booking. We do not send marketing text messages. If that ever changes, we will ask for your consent first.

How long we keep it

Contact-form messages and leads: up to 3 years after our last contact, unless you become a client.
Newsletter details: until you unsubscribe.
Client records, contracts, and invoices: 7 years, because of tax and legal rules.
Analytics data: up to 14 months, the longest Google Analytics keeps it.
Local storage on your device: until you clear it. The pop-up reminder resets after about 30 days.

How we protect it

We use reputable services that encrypt data in transit (look for “https” in the address bar), we limit who on our team can see client information, and we keep our form keys private. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot promise that nothing will ever go wrong, but we take care with what you trust us with. If a breach affecting your information occurs, we will notify you as the law requires.

Your choices and your rights

You can ask us to:

tell you what personal information we hold about you and where it came from;
correct anything that is wrong;
delete your information (we may need to keep some records for tax, legal, or contract reasons);
stop using your information for newsletters or marketing; and
give you a copy of the information you gave us.

To make a request, email [email protected] or write to us at the mailing address above. We may need to confirm it is really you, for example by replying from the email address we have on file. We will respond within 45 days. We will not treat you worse for making a request.

For California residents

California law gives residents rights over their personal information, including the right to know, delete, and correct it, to opt out of its sale or sharing, and to limit the use of sensitive information. We do not sell your personal information. The Meta Pixel can count as “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising under California law, so you can opt out of it by turning on a Global Privacy Control signal in your browser, or by contacting us, and we do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you. Submerge is a small business and may fall below the thresholds that trigger the California Consumer Privacy Act, so we offer these rights to every California resident voluntarily. You can use the rights above by contacting us. You may also use an authorized agent to make a request for you.

Under California’s “Shine the Light” law, you may ask once a year for a list of the personal information we have shared with others for their own direct marketing. We do not share it for that purpose.

Visitors outside the United States

Our studio is in California, and the information we collect is handled in the United States. If you visit from outside the United States, including the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, your information will be sent to and stored in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from your country’s.

Children

This website is for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we learn that we have, we will delete it. Portrait sessions that include children are arranged with a parent or guardian, and the information we hold for them comes from that adult through the booking process. If you believe a child has sent us information through the website, please contact us.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows the latest version. If we make a significant change, we will say so on this page, and, for newsletter subscribers, we may also email a notice.

Contact us

Justin Tucker Lutsky, doing business as Submerge Underwater 4273 W Oak Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833 [email protected] (714) 343-4898