Money Back Guarantee and Return Policy

To generate trust, I offer the following guarantee and return policy.

I guarantee that you will be thrilled with a CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY print. If you are not, I will cheerfully re-do a rejected print, give you full credit to be applied to another print of your choice, or quickly refund 100% of your investment, without any hassle or hard feelings, subject to one condition to prevent abuse: you must return a rejected print undamaged, with tracking, at your expense within 90-days of the day that I shipped it to you. The sale, therefore, is not final until you have had 90-days to examine your CLOUD 9 artwork and you decide to keep it.

Customer Benefits

CLOUD 9 customers enjoy these benefits.

1. Money Back Guarantee. I offer a no hassle, rock-solid, money back guarantee.
2. A Generous 90-day Return Privilege. The sale is not final until you have had 90-days to see, examine, and accept artwork you bought from me. If this is not the case, return it undamaged within 90-days for credit, exchange, or refund.
3. Custom-Made Artwork. Each print is made when you order it, using the latest and best equipment, software, and materials.
4. Museum Grade, Big, Artwork. Professionally printed, museum grade, big, detail rich, beautiful, awesome, artwork, on heavy, fine art, photograph paper.
5. A Large Selection Niche Treasure Trove of Hard-to-Find Subjects. I offer unique, custom-made, valuable, hard to find, artwork of collectible historical subjects or beautiful subjects, which you can see on CLOUD 9's Internet site before you place your order.
6. CLOUD 9's Artwork is Collectible. Serious collectors of scarce historical subjects love CLOUD 9.
7. CLOUD 9's Artwork Makes a Wonderful Unique Gift. CLOUD 9's artwork is custom-made, in limited quantities, to order; it is not mass produced.
8. CLOUD 9's Artwork is Ideal for Home and Office Wall Decor. Big, detail rich, CLOUD 9 artwork is excellent for customizing any home or office.
9. CLOUD 9's Artwork is Not a Commodity. Commodities, like food, clothing, and oil, get consumed, become dirty, wear out, and need to be replaced. Artwork, however, never wears out. CLOUD 9 Artwork, when cared for properly, outlasts a lifetime.
10. CLOUD 9's Artwork Satisfies a Deep Intangible Need. Art makes our lives more enjoyable. We need art to satisfy our hearts and our minds. We need art to elevate us to a higher level. Art gives us access to a world beyond a drab reality. Art has powerful symbolism which triggers our essence. Art memorializes what is important. Art motivates, energizes, inspires, reminds, and makes a statement.
11. Convenient Shopping. You can shop from any computer hooked up to the Internet and avoid traffic and long mall lines.
12. A Wide Variety of Print Sizes. Customers can select from a wide variety of print sizes.
13. Print Sizes Are Compatible With Many Standard Frame Sizes. Most of CLOUD 9's print sizes are compatible with standard frame sizes or will fit into one with matting.
14. Uncompromising Highest Quality. I strive to make CLOUD 9's motto meaningful: PHOTOGRAPHY FOR PERSNICKETY PEOPLE.
    
    I cater to people who have substantial buying power and demand uncompromising quality. I am focused on bringing to market products that are exclusive, unique, hard to find, and produced extremely well, using the highest quality materials, with extreme attention to details and customization. Pursuit of perfection is my primary concern. I do not make, sell, or ship junk.
    
    Photography involves a series of steps. Every step is analogous to a link in a chain. The strength of any photographic chain is only as good as the quality of each step. If a person compromises on any step, the picture will be degraded. Often, nothing will compensate for that degradation. I, therefore, never compromise on any step. My uncompromising standards show in my pictures, especially in the final result: big, sharp, detail rich, awesome, prints–true artwork.
    
    Anyone with a cell phone camera or with an amateur grade camera who thinks their pictures can hold their own with mine, especially when enlarged big, is wrong.
    
    If a person is not a professional photographer, they would be severely challenged to use my camera gear to take pictures that approach the aesthetic and technical quality of the pictures that I create. This is a fact, not a boast.
15. Personal Attention to Detail and Quality by Senior Management. I personally prep every image for printing, and I personally print each image, to my high standards, so that the customer benefits from the best that I can offer. I do this because: 1) printing is part of the creative process; 2) I am fanatical about insisting that my customers get the best print I can offer; 3) when I make a print for a customer, if I do not have the same picture in my collection, I make a duplicate for myself; 4) I want to avoid, for my customer, and for myself, time involved in sending back a print for a refund or for a “re-do”; and 5) I want personal knowledge of what was sent to a customer, to fulfill an order.
16. Superior Customer Service. I offer superior customer service, personal attention, advice, answers to questions, and well informed recommendations. If asked to do so, I will also explain the “story behind the picture”.
17. Special Assistance to Help You Find What You Want. My stock files contain thousands of images not yet visible on the CLOUD 9 web site. Please contact me if you can’t find what you want and are serious about buying an image. I will do my reasonable best to search my files for a suitable match for you.
18. Custom Services Are Available. If you want to discuss any custom service please call me at (707) 824-1884 to discuss or email me at pmancus@comcast.net.
19. Reasonably Fast Delivery Time. Your print is normally made within a few days after I receive your order. However, if I am on a photographic expedition or have other commitments, delivery time will be delayed. A prudent customer who wants to receive an order before a special date, e.g., Christmas or a birthday, should place an order early.
20. Crushed Resistant Mailing Tubes. I use crush resistant, United Parcel Service tested and approved, mailing tubes with taped plastic end caps to keep out moisture and grit.
21. Your Order is Shipped Traceable. I ship all prints with tracking, if available, for the destination, which includes the entire United States of America.
22. Insurance for Your Order is Available. Insurance is available at an additional charge, for most destinations.
23. World-Wide Shipping is Available. Shipping costs are calculated based on destination from Sebastopol, California. U.S. orders are shipped via U.S. Priority Mail. International and overseas orders are shipped via U.S. Airmail, FedEx or UPS. Depending on the destination, additional shipping costs might be required, payable in advance.
24. A Fine Art Photograph Investment. CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY artwork is an investment in a custom-made fine art photograph made to exacting standards.
25. A Favorable Pricing Structure. I will never engage in periodic “yo-yo”, steeply discounted, pricing. I maintain steady prices with periodic price increases. This pricing structure guarantees that your investment in CLOUD 9 artwork increases in value.

Definition of “a Fine Art Photograph”

A fine art photograph is an image, photograph, or print that was conceived artistically and was captured in a manner that is technically excellent, or the artistic quality compensates for a minor technical flaw.

CLOUD 9 Prints Are Better Than CLOUD 9's Internet Pictures

A CLOUD 9 print is a museum quality print made on fine art grade paper from a large digital file. CLOUD 9's Internet pictures are made from much smaller JPEGs so they will load fast, take up less memory, and frustrate thieves by withholding a lot of data. Many of our master files are extremely large and detail rich.

Core Approach

I create pictures for my own enjoyment, for the love of what I do, for the challenge to be creative and to produce exciting, beautiful pictures. I do not consider the selling potential or the commercial value of the picture before--or while--I make it. I do not copy or imitate what other photographers do. I follow my own inspiration. I develop my own style. Along the way, I keep it fun, do what I want to do, and function as my own boss.

I am enthusiastic, passionate, and excited about photography. My love of photography and the subjects that I like to photograph are what motivates me to put in long hours, to get up early, to stay out late, to study the light, to follow the light, to think anew, to love the challenge, and to continue to come back for more, honing my skills, to improve, so I can create, and offer more exciting, beautiful photographs.

Goals

Some of my goals are:

1. to create excellent, big, detail rich, awesome, beautiful, valuable, fine art photograph prints, that grab folks’ attention, ideal for gift giving, home and office wall decor, and collecting;
2. to create a diversity of images that allow others to see things they otherwise would not see;
3. to avoid cliches and to make photographs of the ordinary that are extraordinary;
4. to use every photo-op responsibly and to be sympathetic toward my subjects;
5. to create lasting impressions and visual reminders of life’s memorable moments;
6. to sell CLOUD 9 prints, effectively, for a profit at a reasonable price;
7. to give my customers an enjoyable, problem free, buying experience;
8. to develop a good reputation as an “one stop shop” for consistently excellent photographic artwork;
9. to make CLOUD 9 one of the Internet’s best sources for Fine Art Photography at a reasonable price;
10. to use my photographs to stimulate critical thinking about important subjects;
11. to be genuine and authentic; and
12. to help promote gifted photographers who authorize me to sell their pictures.

“Final Cut” Standards

My standards for deciding if a picture is worthy of being uploaded to the CLOUD 9 Internet site are: 1) the “Fine Art Photograph” standard, namely, is the picture artistically inspired and technically excellent?, and 2) the Documentary” standard, namely, is the picture a good image of something I want to document?

Photography Style or Signature

I like 1) tightly cropped images portrayed with a believable, slight color saturation, 2) expansive views that show the main subject in its environment, 3) low light and night photography, 4) unusual vantage points, 5) any conventional subject photographed well, unconventionally, 6) candid people photography, 7) street photography, and 8) photography of historical or cultural collectibles.

I approach my subjects with deliberate action and attention to detail. I leave little, if anything, to chance. I preconceive many images and set out to make them.

When given a fleeting opportunity, I can, on short notice, consistently and reliably produce high quality images of a wide variety of subjects, under stressful situations.

Favorite Subjects

Some of my favorite subjects are: 1) “transportation” subjects, 2) people, 3) animals; 4) statuary; 5) landscapes, 6) engineering feats, and 6) nature.

Most Important Parts of Photography

The most important parts of photography are: first, what motivates a person to take a picture; second, how well one creatively pre-conceives a picture; and third, how well one makes the pre-conceived image.

Praise for Photographers

Accomplished photographers are analogous to magicians and historians. They capture and preserve fleeting moments in time to be archived and cherished. They have recorded Mankind’s tragedies, human rights violations, joy, love, misery, accomplishments, progress, failures, conflicts, and cooperation. They inspire. They awe.

Photographic Gear

Taking pictures does not make one a photographer. There is an important difference between a snapshooter and a photographer.

A compositional “good eye” is far more important than an expensive camera. This truth is true in the digital age. A person with “a good eye”, using a cheap camera, will always make better pictures than a person with an expensive camera with a lousy “eye”.

While a more capable camera makes it easier for a person with “a good eye” to make pictures, no camera, regardless of price or capability, can compensate for the lack of “a good eye” or the lack of passion to create or the lack of commitment to use the camera, as a tool, effectively. Thus, the specifics of what photo gear I use are unimportant. However, for those who want to know, I use professional grade Canon and Hasselblad cameras and lenses, from extreme wide angle to extreme telephoto. I also routinely use what I consider to be the most critical photographic accessory: a sturdy tripod.

I Am Not “a Button Pusher”

I harbor a virulent contempt for the condescending, dismissive, pejorative, opinion that a photographer is a mere “button pusher”. A camera is an inanimate tool. My cameras do not create my pictures. I do, with intelligence, thought, and skill.

“Believability” Versus “Reality”

A famous American landscape photographer, Ansel Adams, opined, “Photography becomes an art when certain controls are applied.” I agree.

I strive to make believable pictures that are often close to reality but are not always 100% faithful to what the camera captured.

For me, the picture(s) my camera(s) capture are a point of departure, namely, material for me to enhance, and the picture is not complete until I have modified what the camera captured. This is because often, a photograph printed straight from the camera’s original picture, film or digital, is not satisfying to my artistic vision. Such a picture, without an adjustment, is a picture which often falls short of my intent or what I deem to be the gem hidden within the original picture. To achieve my artistic intent when I take my pictures I often do one or more minor or major adjustments of the original picture so I can make a print that satisfies my artistic bent.

By “adjustments”, I sometimes do the following: 1) I determine how to crop the image [and I will often offer the image cropped differently]; 2) I will merge multiple images; 3) I will make global color balance changes; 4) I will make global contrast changes; 5) I will remove what I call “clutter” or “distractions” that are unnecessary or unaesthetic or both; and 6) I will remove “imperfections”.

These adjustments take time [approximately fifteen minutes and up to five hours] for one picture, require knowledge, skill, and attention to detail.

I make these adjustments to promote a certain artistic mood and to “clean up” and eliminate unwanted objects that I could not remove at the time I made the picture. When I make these adjustments my goal is to clean up an image, to infuse it with value, and to alter it in a way that results in an excellent print that is “believable” and shows no trace of an adjustment.

By “believable”, I mean a print that all reasonable persons would embrace as being “possible” and “convincing”, namely, a realistic rendition of reality.

These adjustments are part of what a CLOUD 9 customer pays for when they buy a CLOUD 9 print.

In the end, a CLOUD 9 print does not show strictly what was in front of the camera when I took the picture. Instead, it shows my artistic expression of what I want it to show, to the best of my ability, per my ideal interpretation of the subject.

What I Intend by the Name “CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY”

I intend “CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY” to include any subject matter photographed and printed so well that when a viewer looks at the picture they experience a “I’m on Cloud 9 feeling” because the artwork is a zinger, namely, an image that emotionally connects to them or commands their attention.

CLOUD 9's Print Prices

Since I refuse to lower my standards, I will not compete on the basis of price. It is impossible to maintain uncompromising highest quality, sell cheap, and stay in business. Lowering prices becomes “a race to the bottom”.

CLOUD 9's prints are high quality, museum grade, custom-made prints, not cheap, thin, mass produced, posters. These prints are a fine art photograph investment. As my following increases, and as my costs go up, I will raise prices five to twenty percent, once or twice a year.

Periodic price increases increase the value of a CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY fine art print. This is because these prints are not mass produced, they are aesthetically beautiful and technically flawless, many CLOUD 9 subjects are scarce, and discerning, sophisticated, persnickety people value quality. Quality commands a premium.

For a more detailed discussion about why CLOUD 9's prices are reasonable, please read my answer to Question 26, “How can you justify these prices?”, on CLOUD 9's FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions]. A link to that discussion is here.

Licensing CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY Images

All commercial uses of my work, namely, not for personal enjoyment only, are subject to a license use fee. My minimum commercial license fee is $200.00 and goes up from there, depending on the use, the number of photos, size, and other variables.

I welcome inquiries regarding commercial use subject to a copyright license agreement. Please call me at (707) 824-1884 to discuss your needs or email me at pmancus@comcast.net with a description of your project(s) and a list of the CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY Product Numbers you want to use. After receiving adequate information describing your intended use, I will quote you my licensing fee.

Unauthorized users are subject to legal action, financial penalties, and fees.

Availability for Hire

Inquires are welcomed.

Business Opportunities and Dealer Inquires

I invite inquires from fine art gallery owners, hobby store owners, gift store owners, publishers, photo buyers, photo editors, photographer agents, and interior decorators.

I Love to Promote and Showcase Talented Photographers

I invite any talented, accomplished, serious photographer who is willing to authorize me to sell their work on CLOUD 9 to become a Contributing CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY Photographer .

Such cooperation gives these photographers excellent exposure at minimal expense to them and a chance to develop a source of income, plus legitimate tax deductions. This cooperation is also good for CLOUD 9's customers.

CLOUD 9 is evolving into a stock photo agency managed by a photographer [me] who is committed to promoting talented photographers’ welfare as I bring together, in one spot, excellent pictures, taken by myself and others, to give CLOUD 9's customers a greater selection.

Why I Often Prefer Being a Photographer to a Lawyer

Many of the qualities of an excellent lawyer and an excellent photographer are transferable from one to the other. Both require thorough preparation, attention to detail, excellent situational awareness, persistence, determination, creativity, and resourcefulness.

I became a lawyer because I love to help people, to solve complex problems, and to engage in constructive cerebral combat. I also love to be creative.

I love this fact: In photography, once you click the shutter, even in the digital age, there is “no appeal”, e.g., you either nailed the shot or you blew it. As a photographer, if I do everything I am suppose to do, I will get an excellent result. As a lawyer, however, I can do everything within the standard of care, and, because there are variables beyond my control, e.g., witnesses, client, jurors, judges, government officials, the law, and the facts, the odds of getting a good result are not always comforting.

Beyond Photography

One goal I have with my photography is to call attention to patriotic symbols and themes, the U.S. Armed Forces, and some crucial intangibles, namely, the enduring value of constitutionalism [obeying our Constitution’s commands], and promoting an unbreakable bond between the U.S. Armed Forces and American civilians.

I champion this concept: security, national survival, and the“Blessings of Liberty”, for Americans, will be achieved, if, and only if, two great American communities, Military and Civilian, function with 100% fidelity to the U.S. Constitution’s commands, per its actual text, as written, and as faithfully construed [interpreted and applied], per the values, mind set, and attitudes of the 1776 generation.

A True, Revealing Story

In the early 1980s I had permission to fly with U.S. Marines on a strict not to interfere basis. One day, I was a civilian photojournalist tag-along passenger in a U.S. Marine Corps Boeing CH-46 Sea Night helicopter, part of a flight of five, flying from a Marine Corps helo base in Southern California to a Marine Corps mountain warfare training base close to Yosemite National Park.

About half way during the flight, the helo I was on had a major hydraulic fluid leak, which forced the pilot, the leader of this detachment, to land. Fortunately, my pilot made a safe landing.

We landed in the desert, about a mile from a major civilian road and a civilian convenience store.

After about thirty minutes, we saw a civilian pick-up truck creating a dust cloud, headed toward us. This truck contained the driver, a man, who was the father of two teenage girls, who he brought with him. This man owned and operated this civilian convenience store.

As this man and his daughters approached the Marines, and myself, the Marines and I stood in a semi-circle, around them, facing them, with me at one end of this semi-circle.

I was wearing an olive drab Marine Corps flight suit with no rank. My flight suit had a name tag, which said:

Peter Mancus
“Lance”
Photo Journalist

Soon after I had scored permission to fly with the Marines, a Marine told me I had to have a “call sign”, and, since I was a free lance photojournalist, he asked me if I was willing to accept “Lance”. I said, “Sure.” “Lance” is short. It is memorable. It fits. It also has a military-bellicose connotation. So, to the Marines, I became “Lance”.

As we all stood in a semi-circle around this man and his two daughters who drove out to befriend us, here is what happened.

This man grabbed “goodies” [soda pop, bottled war, candy bars, potato chips, and other snacks] from boxes held by his daughters, and he, after shaking hands, enthusiastically, with each Marine, generously gave them snacks. He repeated that with each Marine, in an exceedingly mighty fine, good natured, manner, until he got to tail end Charlie, little ole me.

When this man came to me, he looked at my name tag, and, apparently, read it. He then, with extreme fast movements, virulent agitation, and over-the-top gusto, raised one leg high, slapped his knee hard, flailed his arms around, and cussed–loudly and profusely. He then said [paraphrased], “You goddamn Marines. Even in peace time you carry around your goddamn photographers. No wonder you goddamn Marines got a picture of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi at Iwo. I was Army infantry. We didn’t have the luxury of carrying around with us a goddamn photographer.”

When this man was piping off, carrying on like that, the Marines and I looked at each other and smiled. We never told this man I was a tag along civilian photojournalist.

I love to tell this story. It is 100% true. I did not embellish it. I did, however, leave out my acute worry when I realized I was on the helo with the hydraulic fluid leak. I envisioned my life possibly ending in a fireball . . . or me possibly surviving, horribly disfigured by extensive burns.

This story underscores an illusive, coveted, goal, one that I hope I will achieve but will probably never come true: Some day, I would love to take a picture as important as the one that photographer Joe Rosenthal took that memorialized the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi, inspired a nation, and enhanced morale.

Years ago I read in a scholarly book that during a lull in Congressional testimony by senior U.S. Armed Forces officers, a U.S. Army general reportedly, off the record, told a senior U.S. Marine Corps general, something to this effect, “You damn Marines are an unnecessary second army. We don’t need you. We don’t want you. But, that damn picture you got of the flag being raised on Mt. Suribachi bought you another 200 years of existence. Congress wouldn’t dare to vote to eliminate you damn Marines, not after that damn picture.”

Such is the power of photography!

Peter J. Mancus,
Owner, www.cloud9photography.us
Sebastopol, CA
Tel.: (707) 824-1884
Email: pmancus@comcast.net

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