(Totally GDPR Compliant – Promise!)

Hello & welcome! If you’re reading this page your data privacy and the recent GDPR implementation is important to you. If you’ve arrived here accidentally and you have never heard of GDPR before, then GDPR stands for Get ‘Dem Photographers Raving. This was purely created to ignite mass hysteria within an entire industry of small, one tiny person businesses who collect people’s faces, well pictures of, for a living. Are faces personal data? Well, this hasn’t actually been confirmed yet! But, in the meantime, what we do need to do is be compliant in the way we handle the written information you share with us. So here is my, Louise May Photography’s, updated GDPR compliant privacy policy FYI…

PERSONAL DATA I COLLECT

Basically I collect the information that I need to be able to do the job that you employ me for. This basically consists of your name – so I don’t have to call you Dear Sir or Madam. Your email address, so we can send each other messages. Your mobile number, so I can call you and find you on your wedding day. Your address so I can post your wedding photos to you and I take photographs of you, your family and your guests at your wedding – well, because that’s what you’ve paid me for.

HOW I COLLECT & KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA

I generally collect your data when you email me or fill in the contact form on my website. This arrives into my email inbox which is only accessible by me, my fingerprint and the occasional use of a totally random password containing at least 8 characters and including a minimum of 1 uppercase letter, 1  lowercase letter, 1 numeric character and 1 special character, just to be sure. Your details will be entered and stored in my cool AF, uber efficient and totally GDPR Compliant CRM software, Táve. This is only accessible by me with the use of yet another special character containing password.
If you make an enquiry but choose not to book me (yeah right!), all of your personal data and details will be deleted from my client database. I don’t store personal information on my website, but for your peace of mind my website is https:// and not one of those dodgy http:// only sort of sites, which apparently makes mine waaaaayy more secure! Your  data may also be collected when you sign in to view an online gallery, or if you have responded to a competition. This information is also stored within that very safe and secure CRM system.

BLOG COMMENTING

I do have a blog on my website where I showcase some of my favourite photography, this could include pictures of you or your wedding. The blog is super public, anyone can see it. I share it everywhere (and hope others might share it too) with the main purpose of getting it in front of as many people as possible, so if you comment everyone who can see my blog, can see your post, so best not to put your credit card details there, just send those directly to me via the totally secure email system.

RIGHT OF CONFIRMATION, ACCESS, RECTIFICATION & ERASURE

If you do have any questions at all about how your personal data is handled, please just drop me an email and I will quickly come back to you with details of all the information I have on you, why I have them and how the information is held. You’ll probably find that the information I have is exactly the information you have given to me, since my crystal ball appears to be on the blink! If any of the information I have is incorrect, you totally have the right to correct it, and I would definitely recommend this because turning up at the wrong wedding on the wrong day would be reeeealllyyy, horribly bad!!! If you would like me to delete all of your personal data, you have the right to request this, but I wouldn’t recommend this before your wedding day!!. There are some things I definitely need to know about you so that I can work for you. I do tend to keep email addresses for my clients in the database for the duration that I provide your online galleries- if you would like to completely close your account with me, just let me know and I can totally erase all of your details, including any image galleries. No problemo!

HOW I USE YOUR DATA

I will definitely, 100%, use your email address to message you about your wedding or shoot. If there’s something related to your wedding that I think you might like, perhaps a discount coupon for albums, I’ll probably email you that too. I may even email you about something that’s totally unrelated to your wedding but relevant to something we actually had a real conversation about, like that really cool coffee shop with the amaaaazing cake!!! I would, however, never give your email address out to anyone else, not even my assistant! I also won’t use your email address to send you lots of newsletters, mostly because I just don’t have time to even write all that blurb!! Though I might send you an email to let you know I’ve published a new blog post. I do occasionally give out your phone numbers to my assistant, purely so, like me, they can also find you on your wedding day!

I have a questionnaire that asks you for all the details of your wedding day, that is embedded in my CRM system and doesn’t go anywhere else. I do take the details that I need to have on hand for your actual wedding day (i.e. list of family portraits) and save these as a pdf on my fingerprint protected and password locked phone. After your wedding I may send you a questionnaire to help me create a blog post of your day. You are in no way obliged to fill this in and anything you write will likely be edited into content that works within your blog feature. Any and all information I request from you regarding this is entirely voluntary.

Occasionally, because your wedding is just so utterly ‘Gawgus Dahling’ an independent blogger may ask my permission to feature you. This would never happen without your consent, if this should happen I would contact you (probably using your email) with all of the details for your consideration. Occasionally I submit photos to competitions in the hope of receiving much love (at least) and ultimately (at best) world wide domination in the wedding photography industry… (*raised eyebrow) But I generally only submit photos that you have already given me permission to use on my own website. Basically, I’m not a weirdo and I promise I won’t sell your information to any questionable sources!!

USE OF YOUR FACE-BASED DATA

With regards to your actual photographs, the EU has not been specific about what that means for us photographers, except that we need to demonstrate ‘reasonable and legitimate use’. I can assure you 100% that I will not sell your photos to be used in an advert for Haemorrhoid cream! If a third party approached me asking to buy one of your photos, I would contact you, by email, about it. You might want to sell it and make yourself a few extra spondoolies!! But I will never sell an image without your consent or knowledge.

There are one or two things that I do in the course of running my business… I sometimes share my work on social media – that could potentially be Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn and of course on my own website. (FYI these platforms are all also required to be GDPR compliant in their own right) If you are reading this, then chances are you have probably stalked me and seen photos of my real live couples on any one of these possible channels. I do ask my couples to opt into this in their contract, but you absolutely have the right to keep your wedding private and I totally respect anyone who does not want their lives splashed all over the interweb. Even if you do agree to the opt in on your contract, I will email you a ‘proof’ of my intended blog post for approval, prior to posting you and your guests on my website and sharing my blog across all available social media platforms and, of course, the world. You are welcome to bin any photos you are not happy with and, FYI, it is your responsibility to ask your guests’ permission.

I store the photos of all your beautiful faces on password encrypted hard drives. These are kept in my house very securely behind locked windows and doors. I can assure you on the quality and safety of these locks, as a single white female with the huge responsibility of protecting two canine friends – oh and two teenage children – it’s vitally important to me that no unwanted visitors gain access!! Your faces are also stored in the online galleries provided by the very same system in which I store your data, the GDPR compliant, Táve.

GDPR MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

So to summarise, the new EU regulations require me to do stuff that’s generally within the realms of my job role. Ultimately, what you really need to know, is that I’m a genuine, decent human being, who wants to be able to do my job and do it well, but will never take the wotsit and exploit you or your data!!