Who we are

Our website address is: https://markchivers.co.uk.

Hi! Welcome welcome! If you’ve clicked here it must mean you care a lot about your data privacy and the recent GDPR implementation.

 Personal data I collect

I collect your name so I don’t have to call you Sir/Madam, your email address so I can communicate with you, your mobile number so I can call you, your address so I can post your photos (if necessary) to you and take your photographs because that’s what you’ve paid me to do. All of this is necessary for me to do my job.

How I collect and keep your personal data

If you used my contact form on my website, which arrives in an email inbox that is tightly passworded with something that doesn’t contain my birthday date. If you go ahead with booking me as your photographer, I will store your email (in a GDPR compliant software), which is only accessible by me, using a 12-digit alpha numeric password. If you enquire but don’t book me, I will delete all your personal data from my client database after the appropriate mourning period has ended. I don’t think your email gets stored on my website in anyway, but if it does my website is https:// and not one of the loser http:// type sites so I think it’s more secure than your average joe blog.

If you purchase prints or other photo related products through the online gallery on my Client Area, let it be known that this is run by a fully GDPR compliant third-party company (currently is Smug Mug) with the usual industry standard e-commerce security and I never privy to any of that information, especially your card/bank details. I am just sent a confirmation email with your order details (name, address and what you ordered) minus your payment details.

Blog commenting

I have a blog on my website where I showcase my photography. If you comment on it, it’s super public so everyone can see it, so don’t write down your personal credit card details there, you can just send that directly to me.

Right of confirmation, access, rectification and erasure

In all seriousness, if you have questions about how your personal data is handled, you can just drop me an email and I will quickly write something up. I’m happy to show you the information I have on you, and unsurprisingly it’ll probably be exactly the things you’ve told me because sadly I am neither a spy nor a mind reader. 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 event! If you’d like me to delete all your personal data, you have the right to request it, but I wouldn’t recommend asking for that before your job is completed. I definitely need to know stuff about you to work for you. When you’re done with me you can totally dump and delete. I do tend to keep email addresses of my clients in the database for the duration that I provide your online galleries- if you’d like to fully close your account with me in a manner of speaking, just let me know and I can totally wipe you.

Use of your data

The summary of this is that I’m not a weirdo. I will 100% definitely use your email to email you about your job. If there’s something related to your job like a discount coupon for prints, I’ll possibly email you that too if I like you. If there’s something unrelated to your wedding but related to something we had a human conversation about like a really cool tapas restaurant, I may well email you about that too. I wouldn’t give your email out to anyone else, though I sometimes give it to my second shooter. I also won’t be sending you lots of newsletters mostly because frankly, I don’t have time fo’ that shiz. I do sometimes give out phone numbers to second shooters, because similar to the clause above, it’s best for all involved if they are able to find you when on your job.

I have a questionnaire that asks you for details about your wedding day, that doesn’t go anywhere bar my computer and then into a pdf on my password locked phone. After your wedding I might send you a questionnaire for a blog post, you aren’t obliged to fill it out and what you write in there may be edited into content for your blog feature, so again, please don’t leave treasure maps to pots of gold in there. Any and all information I request from you is entirely voluntary really.

Sometimes your wedding looks really jazzy to an independent wedding blogger, and they may ask my permission to court thee. Again, nothing can happen without your consent so I wouldn’t stress about that. Sometimes I submit photos to competitions because it’s how I can progress, so if you have an issue with this, then please let me know in advance.

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 tell you that I won’t sell your wedding photos to be used commercially, but 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. But in short, it’ll never be without your consent or knowledge.

There’s a couple of things I do to run my business, like show my work on the usual social media and my own website. If you have booked me you probably looked at photos of my real couples on these various unscrupulous avenues. I do ask couples to opt into this in my contract, but you can always decide to keep your wedding private. Even if you don’t specify that you want out, I will actually ask you directly after the wedding as well if you’re ok with me putting you and your guests on my website. You can veto any photos you deem too sloppy, and it is your responsibility to ask your guests’ permission.

I store photos of your faces on password encrypted hard drives in my house that is behind a double locked door. I also keep a copy of your faces with an online gallery provider that is GDPR compliant.

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 nice human being who wants to be able to do my job but who won’t take the piss.

My kindest regards

Your photographer Mark