Hi! I’m Carla, trading as Mermaiding UK and Carla Watkins Photography, and I have total respect for your personal data. You provide data to me in a number of ways by using this website and enquiring or booking my services, by email or my contact form where a form exists.

This policy covers your data, cookies and some other relevant bits & pieces and is effective from 23 May 2018, updated 26 June 2020. Here goes…

Here’s what I collect & how I use it

Obviously if we are discussing a booking, I need to know who you are 🙂

If you have bought things from my online shop in the past: lawful basis – contract

Your email address, postal address & phone number – I use this to complete your order and contact you if there are any problems (for example, if your parcel gets returned to me because Royal Mail are having an off day).

I keep records of each sale in a spreadsheet in Dropbox, plus in a hard copy folder in my studio. I am obliged to keep these for the purpose of running my business properly and completing my tax return accurately. The folder is removed to a locked filing cabinet when I am away from home.

If you are a photoshoot client: lawful bases – contract & legitimate interests

I collect & retain details of you, your guests, your shoot session, your ages, your clothing & shoe sizes, and process this information only in order for me to provide whatever it is you have booked. I do not share this information except where necessary (for example, to ensure I have a tail in your size or to check photography permissions on location).

I keep this information (usually via email) in my email folders, plus in hard copy in a folder in my studio. The folder is removed to a locked filing cabinet when I am away from home.

Here’s where else your data may be used:

If you have bought things from my online shop in the past, or if you have booked a photography package including prints: lawful basis – contract

I use the Post Office Drop & Go service, which means your address will be listed on a shipping manifest used only by me and Royal Mail. Without your address, you can’t receive your order or your prints, so this is kind of necessary if you want your mermaid goodies to arrive. If you wish to send a carrier pigeon to collect your order, feel free – but please make sure it is up to the job!

My shop payment processors are Square and PayPal online and Square and iZettle at events & fairs – I never see your payment details.

If you have booked a mermaid shoot: lawful bases – contract & legitimate interests

I use Shootproof as a gallery, contract & invoice service – again, in order for me to fulfil your booking, I have to enter your name, address & booking information here. All galleries are passworded so you can choose who to share them with.

Shootproof are GDPR compliant, but all you will ever have to enter in the gallery is your email & the password/PIN I give you for downloading your beautiful images.

Shootproof also uses PayPal and Braintree for payment processing. In person/at the studio, you can also use my card processors Square or iZettle to pay for upgrades or shop items, and again I never see your payment details.

If someone else has booked a shoot because you have said lovely things about me / your own shoot (thank you!): lawful basis – consent

I may send a little gift to you in the post – but I will probably ruin the surprise (#sorrynotsorry) and contact you first to check I have the correct postal address on file, and that you are happy to receive a thank you present from me. Who doesn’t love presents?!

Using photos for marketing purposes / sharing on social media – lawful bases: legitimate interests & consent

I love to share images from my gorgeous clients’ shoots on social media, my website, brochures, emails & other marketing, and also in albums, the walls of my studio and out & about at events & exhibitions.

These images may be across all my photography accounts.

Of course if you don’t want this to happen, you can let me know and I will always respect your wishes & privacy.

In the period between you booking your shoot and me delivering your final images, we will have various email, text, phone or in-person conversations. Some of these will talk about where I may use the images, and you will receive an email or form with or after your final images, on which you can select where I can use them (or indicate that you would like to keep them private).

This does not affect your right to share them yourself, with the personal or commercial licence included in your booking.

Other things you need to know:

Marketing / newsletters: lawful basis – consent

On this website, on my social media pages and at events, you have the opportunity to sign up for my art photography mailing list. This list will come from Carla Watkins Photography, and is for all my fine art, fairytale, boudoir & mermaid photography, though if you sign up from this site you will be placed in a mermaid specific group.

By signing up, you are giving me permission to send you these emails, and if at any time you would like to stop receiving them, you can do so with the unsubscribe link which appears at the bottom of every email I send.

Cookies

Mmmm, cookies! Sadly the ones this website uses are not the edible kind, but on the plus side, don’t leave crumbs! They are small files saved to your computer, which help make your user experience better.

This is a WordPress website, and uses Google Analytics to anonymously track user activity, which gives me data to make your user experience of this site better (because, y’know, there are enough shit websites on the internet without me adding to that list!).

You are in total control of your cookies – you can switch permission on & off in the settings of your browser. However, please know that many modern websites will not function well without cookies.

Links to other websites

I sometimes link to of other lovely websites – mermaids, suppliers, articles and more – and cannot take responsibility for the content of these. I do try to keep an eye on any links that are broken, but the contents of those sites are nothing to do with me.

Access requests

If you ever want to see what data I hold on you, you can contact me (details below, under “phew, we made it!”) and I will provide you with all of it. I won’t even charge you 😉

Your rights under GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation gives you lots more control over your personal data – yay! If you want to know more, visit the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office – they do love their acronyms) and will tell you all about it.

Phew, we made it!

That’s pretty much it! A long way of saying, I’m doing my very best to be GDPR compliant, and will also do my best to stay up to date with it. However, I will also always prioritise your sessions & editing 🙂

Well done if you’ve read this far – and if you have any questions, you can contact me:

By email: hello@mermaiding.co.uk

By post: Mermaiding UK / Carla Watkins Photography, Studio 19, The Old Maltings, Station Road, Ardleigh, Colchester CO7 7RT

xoxo,

Carla / Mermaid Kerenza Sapphire

 

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