We take data protection very seriously and have looked at all the ways that we obtain and use personal information throughout our business to ensure that we comply with the GDPR regulations.
We collect and hold personal information in two ways, firstly in taking photographs which show images of people and then during the ordering process.
Photographic Images
During the normal course of our business as photographers our principal objective is to capture images of people at functions and events, and this obviously involves the obtaining personal images of people at the event. In obtaining these images we are always booked and authorised to do so by the organiser of the event and we are working with their full knowledge and permission to capture and document the event. We never attend events or take personal images without being requested to do so by the organiser. We will always obtain the permission of the individuals who are being photographed at the time the images are taken, either verbally if the photography is ‘roaming’ (i.e. without studio lighting), and / or the individuals voluntarily coming onto the studio area if the photography is ‘static’ (i.e. with studio lighting). We will never force individuals to have their photograph taken without their consent – there is no obligation for this to happen. We also ensure that information is sent to the organisers of the event, asking them to inform the attendees that we will be photographing the event.
If we are requested by the organiser of the event to obtain ‘candid’ photography of an event (i.e. distance shots without prior request of the individual), then the organiser of the event will have been requested by us to inform attendees that this style of photography will be happening before the event and at the time of the event, and that if anyone does not wish their image to be taken to inform us of this at the time to ensure this happens.
Once images have been taken at an event they are then transferred onto our computer based photography editing system and the images on the camera are deleted. The images taken are then made available for purchase by being displayed on our website. They are all shown in chronological order of being taken and are shown only within the folder of photographs from that event. We do not hold any other information regarding the image and we do not attach any names or other form of ‘tagging’ to images to make any individual identifiable. All images are shown on the website at low resolution for display purposes only, they are all watermarked with ‘SAMPLE’ across the image and all clearly display that the images are our copyright. They are not available for free download. Images are displayed on the website for a maximum of 12 months, after which time they are removed and are no longer available for viewing.
All images we take are stored on one computer that only we as owners of the business have access to. Backup files are taken for security and these are stored securely and in a separate location. After 3 years the images are removed from our editing system and archived indefinitely as a record of the event and to allow these images to be purchased at a later date.
If at any time an individual does not want their image to be displayed on our website, or to have it removed from our files we will distort their image to make them unidentifiable as requested
Information obtained during ordering
When images are ordered from us, we have to obtain information such as name, address, and email address to allow us to fulfil the order and distribute the images to the purchaser. We use PayPal as a secure third party to process all purchases from us, and once the buyer has completed their shopping cart on our website the checkout process is conducted remotely from ourselves by PayPal. We therefore do not hold or ever see any personal information attached to this buying process, and we never obtain or see any card numbers or other details normally obtained in this process. We have satisfied ourselves that PayPal offer a secure and reliable service that protects the buyers information as far as possible.
Once a transaction has been completed via PayPal, a receipt is sent to the buyer and an order is sent to us, and the funds are transferred via PayPal to ourselves. This order only details the buyers name, billing address and email address, and the details of the order. The order details are then used by us to produce the required photographs, a packing slip is printed from Paypal and this is sent with the order, and once the order is completed we then send a confirmation email to the email address given to inform the buyer that the order has been processed and despatched. The email is then archived as evidence of details of the sale as required by HMRC and other legal bodies, but no other information is retained by us. We only share the delivery information with the courier company who also require the name and address in order to deliver the physical photographs.
We do not hold or retain any personal information after a transaction, and we do not operate any form of mailing list either physically or by email that we send to individuals. We will in the normal course of our business contact organisers of events that happen on a regular basis to continue our working relationship with them, but this is on a specific event by event basis and not by means of general advertising. We do not share any personal information with any other company or body, unless we are obliged to do so to meet our legal obligations.
Information regarding individual rights regarding personal data can be found on the Information Commissioners Office website (ico.org.uk). At any time you have the right to view, amend or delete any personal information that we hold, subject to our legal requirements. If you have any concerns or issues regarding any of the above, or wish to view or change the data we hold, please do not hesitate to contact us in the first instance, by email at enquiries@phoenixphotography.org or telephone (0191) 3739949.
