These terms govern the use of rivacourchevel.com and the introduction service operated by Riva. Please read the first section carefully: it explains who you contract with when you book a session.
1. Who we are and what we do
Riva is a studio operated by Paul Consulting LLC. We do not shoot your session ourselves. We select independent professional photographers in Courchevel and Les 3 Vallées, train them on our standards, qualify your request, brief the photographer we consider the best fit, and follow up with you after the session.
We are paid by the photographer, in the form of an introduction commission. You never pay a fee to Riva for the introduction.
2. Who you contract with
The photography contract is concluded directly between you and the photographer assigned to your session. That photographer issues the quote, invoices you, collects the payment, owns the images they create and is solely responsible for carrying out the session and delivering the gallery.
Riva is an intermediary. We are not a party to that contract, we do not hold your money, and we are not liable for the photographer's performance. We do commit to doing everything reasonable so that it goes well: vetting, briefing, follow-up, and mediation if something goes wrong (section 9).
3. Enquiry, quote and confirmation
Prices displayed on this website are indicative starting prices in euros, all taxes included, for the Courchevel and Les 3 Vallées area we cover. They may change at any time and do not constitute a binding offer.
Your booking is confirmed only when both of the following have happened: the photographer has confirmed the date in writing, and the deposit stated in the quote has been received by the photographer. Until then, no date is held.
The photographer's lift pass for sessions on the slopes (charged at the public price), travel outside the covered area, permits, venue fees, vehicle hire, additional hours, extra edited images and express delivery are quoted separately.
4. Payment
Payment terms, including the amount of the deposit and the due date for the balance, are set out in the photographer's quote and are payable to the photographer. Riva never asks you to pay Riva for a session. If anyone asks you to send money to an account other than the one on the photographer's invoice, stop and contact us.
5. Cancellation, rescheduling and weather
The cancellation terms that apply to you are those written in the photographer's quote. The framework Riva asks its photographers to apply is:
- Cancellation more than 14 days before the session: the deposit is refunded.
- Cancellation between 14 days and 72 hours before the session: 25% of the price is due.
- Cancellation less than 72 hours before the session: the full price is due.
- Weather and lifts: rescheduling is free if you ask more than 72 hours before the session. Within 72 hours, 10% of the price is due. We watch the forecast with you in the days before, and falling snow is not in itself a reason to cancel. If the lifts close on the day, we decide together whether to move the session to the village or your chalet, or to reschedule it on these terms.
- If the photographer cancels for any reason attributable to them, you are refunded in full, and Riva will try to find a replacement photographer of equivalent standard.
6. Right of withdrawal
Photography sessions are leisure services supplied on a specific date. Under Article L221-28 4° of the French Consumer Code, the 14-day right of withdrawal for distance contracts does not apply to them. The cancellation terms in section 5 apply instead.
7. Delivery
Unless the quote says otherwise: a curated preview is delivered within 48 hours of the session, and the full edited gallery within 7 days. For weddings and multi-day programmes, the full gallery is delivered within 14 days. Express 24-hour delivery is available on request and quoted separately.
Galleries are delivered online and password protected. Delivery deadlines start from the end of the session, or from the date of the last payment if the balance is outstanding.
Editing is part of the service and the photographer will re-edit to match the style you asked for. Requests to substantially reshoot or re-stage the session are a new booking.
8. Images, copyright and your right to your own image
The photographer is the author of the images and retains copyright, including inalienable moral rights, under Articles L111-1 and following of the French Intellectual Property Code.
Unless the quote provides otherwise, you receive a personal, worldwide, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the delivered images for private and personal purposes, including your own social media accounts, for an unlimited duration. Credit is appreciated but not required.
Any commercial use, including advertising, brand content, resale, stock licensing, paid media or use by a company, requires a separate written licence agreed with the photographer. Selling the images, or training an artificial intelligence model on them, is not permitted under the personal licence.
You may not modify the images in a way that alters the photographer's work, beyond ordinary cropping and platform filters.
Your own image belongs to you. Neither Riva nor the photographer will publish, display or use any image of you for promotion without your prior written consent. That consent is separate from the booking, can be limited to specific images, and can be withdrawn at any time for future uses. Non-disclosure agreements are available on request.
9. Your obligations
You are responsible for obtaining the authorisations needed to shoot at the location you have chosen, including private venues, hotels, chalets and restaurants, and for any fee those places charge. You confirm that everyone appearing in the images has agreed to be photographed, and that a legal guardian is present for anyone under 18.
On the slopes, everyone skis at their own risk and within their own ability, and must hold a valid lift pass. The photographer is neither a ski instructor nor a mountain guide: sessions take place on open, marked pistes and in the resort. We recommend ski insurance that covers rescue costs.
Sessions start at the agreed time. Time lost through late arrival is deducted from the session, not added to it.
10. Complaints and liability
If something goes wrong, write to us at paulcompain.pro@gmail.com or on WhatsApp. We will look into it and mediate with the photographer. Claims relating to the session itself must first be raised with the photographer, who carries their own professional liability insurance.
Riva's liability is limited to the introduction and coordination service described in section 1, and to direct damage caused by our own fault. We are not liable for indirect loss, and nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including in the case of death, personal injury, fraud or gross negligence.
Consumers may refer a dispute concerning the session to the consumer mediator designated by the photographer, whose details appear on the photographer's quote and invoice, after a written complaint has gone unanswered.
11. Website
The content of this website, including texts, layout, brand and images, is protected. Some images shown on the site are illustrative and do not necessarily depict a specific client session. Reproduction without prior written permission is prohibited.
12. Changes and applicable law
We may update these terms. The version that applies to your booking is the one online on the day the booking is confirmed.
These terms are governed by French law. If you are a consumer, you also keep the benefit of the mandatory protections of the law of the country where you habitually reside.