SALLY DREAMS PRIVACY POLICY

Hello! If you’ve clicked here it must mean you care a lot about your data privacy and the recent GDPR implementation. If you’re here by accident and you don’t know what GDPR is, GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. Back in my corporate days, it’s highly likely I would have been given the job of educating on such a topic and would have knocked up a Powerpoint presentation about it accordingly, usually involving a few meerkats to keep the peeps at the back alert, but as I don’t have that luxury with you all you’ll just have to make do with my waffle below which I hope makes sense and alleviates any concerns you may or may not have. As a photographer, it has caused some confusion as, in addition to collecting some personal data, I also work with people’s faces. Are faces personal data? This has yet to be confirmed. In the meantime, what we do need to do is be compliant in handling written info – including the old fashioned type on pieces of actual paper and anything you’ve sent me via the world wide interweb. So here is Sally Dream’s GDPR compliant privacy policy which I have tried to keep as simple as possible for “easy” reading…..:

Personal data

I collect your name so I don’t have to call you Sir/Madam, email address so I can communicate with you, your mobile number so I can call you before or after our photo session and your address so I know where to come for any in-home photo sessions and/or to deliver your USB and any products you may have purchased.  During the planning process I also collect the names of all parties involved in the photo session so I know who’s who on the day, which also avoids me having to shout “Oi” to get people’s attention.  All of this is necessary for me to do my job.

My website also uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. The software will save a cookie to your computer’s hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website, but will not store, save or collect personal information.  This information is used so I can ensure my website contains more of the stuff you like and less of the stuff you don’t which, in turn, helps me grow my business.

How I collect and keep your personal data

It’s highly likely you’ll contact me via my contact form on my website or via e-mail, which arrives in a tightly password protected email inbox. If you go ahead with booking me for photography, I will store your details on a password protected laptop. If you enquire but don’t book me, I will delete your enquiring email from my email account, after the appropriate mourning period has ended (sob!).  None of this information is stored anywhere else in this case. It’s also worth noting, my website is https:// – the “s” is pretty important as that means all communication transmitted via it is secure and encrypted.

Oh, and there’s also the cookies.  No, not the chocolate chip variety, but the website variety which are admittedly far less tasty!  In summary, they are basically pieces of information stored on your computer’s hard drive recording how you move around a website so that if you were to visit it again, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit.  Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic for advertising and marketing purposes.

Disclosure of your personal data

The only people I may need to share your personal data with are the people below, however I would only allow the data to be processed for specified and necessary requirements and in accordance with my instructions:

1. Service Providers who supply IT and administrative services;
2. Professional advisors such as Lawyers, Bankers, Auditors and Insurers;
3. Government bodies that require us to report processing activities;
4. Printing partners – the companies used to make albums and prints for you.  Print orders may be sent from the printing partner direct to your home, so your name and address will be sent to them when we process the order.

Blog commenting

I have a blog on my website where, along with oversharing about my own life, I love to showcase photos of my lovely clients and their families.  And maybe even their pet pooches.  If you comment on any of my blog posts, just be aware it’s super public so everyone can see it, including your lovely face if you have one of those fancy Avatar profile photos.  I’d therefore strongly recommend you don’t write down your personal credit card details there.

Right of confirmation, access, rectification and erasure

In all seriousness, if you have questions about how your personal data is handled, just drop me an email and I will respond swiftly. I’m happy to show you the information I have on you and, unsurprisingly, it’s highly likely it’ll only be the things you’ve told me as my Mystic Meg skills are pretty rusty. If some of the information is wrong, you have the right to correct it, and I would definitely recommend this because neither of us want me turning up at the wrong house for our photo session! If you’d like me to delete all your personal data, you absolutely have the right to request that too.

Third-Party Links

Sometimes in my blog posts I might include a link to another website that I think you might be interested in  Obviously, I have no control over their privacy policies or the way in which they collect and store data about their visitors so I’d advice you check their privacy policies too, just to be on the safe side.

Use of your data

In summary, I only use your information for the purposes it was intended, namely delivering you amazing photos in a professional manner. I will most definitely use your email address to email you about your photo session. If there’s something related to the type of session you booked, like a discount on products or upcoming session offers I think you might be interested in, I’ll possibly email you about those in the future too unless you ask me not to. If there’s something unrelated to our session but related to something we had a human conversation about like where you can find the most amazing nachos, I may well email you about that too. I won’t be giving your email address out to anyone else, and I also won’t be sending you lots of newsletters. Mostly because I don’t actually write one (minor point!). I do send out a pre-session questionnaire to confirm details and requirements for your session.  It doesn’t go anywhere bar my computer although any information I request from you is entirely voluntary.

Use of your face-based data

When it comes to your photographs, the EU hasn’t gotten too specific about what that means for working photographers bar that we need to demonstrate reasonable and legitimate use. I can confirm, however, that I won’t sell your family photos to Hello Magazine. If a third party does approach me asking me to buy one of your photos, I will email you about it. Sometimes you may want to sell it and make a little cash, but in short it’ll never be without your consent or knowledge and it won’t happen often.  In fact it may never happen as it hasn’t yet, but hey, sounds exciting right?

I also like to show my work on Facebook, Instagram and my own website. If you have booked me you will have probably looked at photos of real families and people via one of these mediums. I do ask clients to opt into this in my contract, but you can always decide to keep your photos private and we can operate under a different contract – I respect that some people don’t want to be on the Internet. Even if you don’t specify that you want out, you can always contact me at any point to request that certain images are kept off my website. Please understand that marketing your images has massive value to my business, however I will only ever share the images with your permission and you have the right to veto any photos you deem unfit for public consumption.

I store photos of your lovely, lovely faces on password encrypted hard drives in my apartment that is 2 stories up and only accessible through secure gates and two locked doors. I also keep a copy of your faces with an online gallery provider who is GDPR compliant.

Phew!  Think that just about covers it all!

The new EU regulations require me to just do stuff that’s fairly within the realms of my job role, I guess all you really need to know is that I’m a good egg who wants to be able to do my job but who won’t put your privacy in jeopardy. As I always say, talk to me with any concerns and I will do whatever I can to alleviate them.