Privacy Policy

Gary Holpin Photography respects your privacy and is committed to handling your personal information responsibly.

This policy explains what personal information I collect, why I collect it, how I use it, who may process it on my behalf, and your rights. It applies when you use my website, contact me, book photography or training services, buy products, subscribe to my newsletter, enter a competition or complete a questionnaire.

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Who is responsible for your data?

The data controller is: Gary Holpin Photography
 

Email: gary@garyholpin.co.uk
Website: www.garyholpin.co.uk

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If you have a question about this policy or how I use your information, please email me at the address above.

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Information I collect

Depending on how you interact with me, I may collect:

• Your name, email address, telephone number and postal address.

• Information you provide when making an enquiry, booking a shoot, course or workshop, or purchasing a product.

• Booking, order, invoice and payment-status information. I do not store full card or bank-payment details.

• Information about your photography interests, experience, equipment, preferences and training requirements where you choose to provide it.

• Newsletter subscription details, email preferences and campaign engagement information, such as whether emails have been opened or links clicked.

• Responses to questionnaires, surveys, feedback forms and competitions.

• Technical information about your use of the website, including IP address, browser, device and pages visited, where this is collected through cookies or analytics technologies that you have accepted.

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Please do not send special-category personal data, such as health information, unless it is genuinely needed—for example, to discuss reasonable adjustments for a workshop—and you are happy for me to use it for that purpose.

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Why I use your information

I use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and provide quotations.

• Arrange, deliver and manage photography, training, workshop and product-purchase services.

• Process orders, payments, invoices, refunds and accounts.

• Communicate important booking, order, safety or service information.

• Send newsletters, offers and information about photography services, training and workshops where you have agreed to receive them, or where otherwise permitted by law.

• Understand preferences and improve future workshops, courses, services, website content and communications.

• Administer surveys, feedback requests, competitions and prize draws.

• Protect my business, resolve problems and meet legal or regulatory obligations.

• Understand how visitors use the website and improve its performance and content.

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My legal basis for using data

UK data-protection law requires a lawful basis for processing personal information. Depending on the purpose, I rely on:

• Contract: where I need your information to provide a quotation, fulfil an order, deliver a photography service or training, or take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

• Legal obligation: where I need to retain records for tax, accounting or other legal requirements.

• Consent: for marketing emails where consent is required, and for optional preferences or special-category information where consent is appropriate. You can withdraw consent at any time.

• Legitimate interests: to run and improve my photography business, respond to relevant enquiries, maintain records, protect the business and understand interest in services. I only use this basis where your rights and interests do not override mine.

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Email marketing

I use EmailOctopus to manage email communications. If you subscribe to my mailing list, I may use your name, email address, stated interests and email-engagement information to send relevant newsletters, photography news, workshop dates, training information and occasional offers.

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You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any marketing email or by emailing me at gary@garyholpin.co.uk. Unsubscribing from marketing emails will not stop essential service communications relating to an existing booking, order or purchase.

I do not sell mailing-list data to third parties.

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Surveys and questionnaires

If you complete a survey or questionnaire, I may collect your email address and the answers you choose to provide. I use these responses to understand interest in future photography training and improve what I offer.

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Where a survey offers an optional prize draw, I use the information needed to administer that draw and contact a winner. Entering a draw is optional and is separate from consent to receive marketing.

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If you choose to receive training information tailored to your stated interests, I may store selected answers in your EmailOctopus contact record for that purpose. You can withdraw that permission at any time by unsubscribing or contacting me.

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Survey responses are collected using Google Forms and may be transferred to EmailOctopus through Zapier. I use these services only to collect, store and manage responses and communications.

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Service providers and sharing

I use trusted third-party providers to operate my business. They may process personal information on my behalf only where necessary to provide their services. These may include:

• Wix, for website hosting, forms and online-store functions.

• EmailOctopus, for email marketing and subscriber management.

• Google, for website analytics and, where used, Google Forms and Google Sheets.

• Zapier, where used, to transfer survey or form responses between systems.

• Anna Money for invoicing.

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I may also disclose information where required by law, to establish or defend legal claims, or to protect the rights, property or safety of myself, clients or others. I do not sell or rent your personal information.

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International transfers

Some of the service providers listed above may process information outside the UK. Where this happens, I use providers that put appropriate safeguards in place for international transfers, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or another lawful transfer mechanism.

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Data retention

I keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

As a guide:

• Enquiries that do not lead to work: normally up to two years after the last contact.

• Client, order, booking and invoice records: normally six years after the end of the relevant tax year, where required for tax and accounting purposes.

• Newsletter subscriber information: until you unsubscribe, ask for deletion, or I decide that the list is no longer active. I periodically review inactive subscriber data.

• Survey and questionnaire responses: normally up to two years, unless longer retention is necessary for a related booking, an unresolved matter or a legal obligation.

• Competition or prize-draw information: normally deleted within three months of the draw, except where it must be retained for a legal or accounting reason.

• Workshop health, dietary, access or emergency information: deleted as soon as reasonably possible after the workshop, normally within three months, unless a longer period is required by law or to deal with a claim.

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I may retain anonymised information for longer, as it can no longer identify you.

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Cookies and website analytics

My website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are necessary for the website to function. Others help me understand how the site is used or improve its performance.

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Where required, I ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies, such as analytics or marketing cookies. You can manage or withdraw your preferences using the cookie settings on the website.

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I use Google Analytics to understand aggregated information such as which pages are visited, how visitors reach the website and how the site performs. I do not use Google Analytics to try to identify individual website visitors.

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Keeping your information secure

I take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. No internet transmission or electronic storage system is completely secure, but I take appropriate steps to reduce risk.

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Your rights

You have rights under UK data-protection law, including the right to:

• Request access to the personal information I hold about you.

• Ask for inaccurate information to be corrected.

• Ask for your information to be deleted in certain circumstances.

• Ask me to restrict the way I use your information in certain circumstances.

• Object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing.

• Withdraw consent at any time where I rely on consent.

• Request a copy of certain information in a portable format.

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To exercise any of these rights, email gary@garyholpin.co.uk. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Details are available at ico.org.uk.

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Changes to this policy

I may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always appear on this website, with the “last updated” date shown at the top. If I make a significant change to how I use your personal information, I will take appropriate steps to let affected people know.