Privacy Notice

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Version 1.0
Last updated: 23 July 2026

 

1. Who I am

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Blacksteel Photography is a trading name used by Ben Wood, operating as a sole trader.

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For data-protection purposes, Ben Wood trading as Blacksteel Photography is the controller responsible for deciding how and why personal information is used.

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Website: blacksteelphotography.co.uk
Email: contact@blacksteelphotography.co.uk
Correspondence address: Supplied on quotations and invoices and available on request.

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This Privacy Notice explains what personal information I collect, why I use it, how long I keep it, who it may be shared with and the rights available to you under UK data-protection law.

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2. Information I may collect

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Depending on how you interact with Blacksteel Photography, I may collect:

• your name;

• your email address;

• your telephone number, where provided;

• your postal or business address, where required;

• the name of your business or organisation;

• information submitted through the website contact form;

• the service you are interested in;

• your approximate budget;

• your project requirements, objectives and creative brief;

• proposed dates, locations and schedules;

• quotations, booking details and contracts;

• invoices, payment status and payment references;

• emails, messages, feedback and other communications;

• permissions, consent records and publication restrictions;

• information about people who will be photographed or filmed;

• photographs, video recordings, audio recordings and voice recordings;

• identifying details visible or audible within photographs and recordings;

• technical information such as file metadata, recording dates and locations;

• information needed for safety, accessibility or safeguarding;

• complaints, requests and records connected with the services provided; and

• technical website information, such as IP addresses, browser information, device information, cookie identifiers and website activity.

 

I do not intentionally collect more personal information than is reasonably necessary for the relevant enquiry, booking or project.

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3. How I collect information

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I may collect personal information:

• through the Blacksteel Photography website and contact form;

• through email or other written communication;

• during enquiries, quotations and booking discussions;

• from clients, businesses, schools, charities, venues or organisations commissioning a project;

• from people participating in photography or filming;

• during photography, videography, audio recording or drone operations;

• from publicly available business websites or social-media pages where relevant to brand-strategy work;

• through website cookies and analytics; and

• from service providers involved in delivering, hosting or managing the project.

 

Where a client or organisation gives me personal information about another person, they are responsible for ensuring that they are authorised to provide it and that the person has received any required privacy information.

 

4. How and why I use personal information

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I may use personal information to:

• respond to enquiries;

• understand the services being requested;

• prepare quotations and proposals;

• arrange and manage bookings;

• communicate about a project;

• plan photography, filming, audio recording or drone operations;

• create, edit and deliver photographs, videos and other content;

• provide proofs and manage revisions;

• complete music-licensing and publication-clearance processes;

• provide brand-strategy and creative recommendations;

• manage invoices and payments;

• keep accounting and tax records;

• manage contracts, permissions and usage rights;

• protect the safety of clients, participants and the public;

• follow safeguarding procedures;

• operate, maintain and secure the website;

• investigate complaints or disputes;

• establish, exercise or defend legal claims;

• prevent misuse, fraud or unlawful activity; and

• comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

 

I do not use personal information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

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I do not sell personal information.

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I do not send newsletters, promotional emails or other direct-marketing communications unless this practice changes and the appropriate permission has first been obtained.

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5. Lawful bases

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UK data-protection law requires me to have a lawful reason for using personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, I may rely on the following lawful bases:

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Contract and steps before entering a contract

I may use information where it is necessary to:

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• respond to a request for a quotation;

• discuss a possible booking;

• enter into an agreement;

• provide the agreed services;

• communicate about the project;

• process payment; or

• deliver completed work.

 

If required information is not provided, I may be unable to prepare a quotation, confirm a booking or provide the requested service.

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Legal obligation

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I may use or retain information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, regulatory and data-protection requirements.

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Legitimate interests

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I may use information where it is reasonably necessary for the legitimate operation of Blacksteel Photography, including:

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• managing enquiries and client relationships;

• keeping appropriate business records;

• protecting equipment, systems and accounts;

• pursuing unpaid invoices;

• investigating complaints;

• establishing or defending legal claims;

• improving services and website performance;

• researching publicly available business information for agreed brand-strategy work; and

• displaying appropriate commercial work in the Blacksteel Photography portfolio.

 

Before relying on legitimate interests, I consider whether those interests are outweighed by the rights and interests of the people concerned.

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Consent

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I may rely on consent for:

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• public use of personal or domestic photography and video;

• optional portfolio or promotional use;

• non-essential website cookies;

• publication involving children or other protected individuals where specific permission is required; and

• sensitive information where explicit consent is appropriate.

 

Consent may be withdrawn at any time. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful use of the information unlawful.

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Vital interests

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In an emergency, personal information may be used where reasonably necessary to protect someone’s life or physical safety.

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6. Photography, video and audio recordings

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Identifiable photographs, video recordings and audio recordings may be personal information.

I may capture and process this material to provide the service requested by the client. This can include:

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• selecting suitable photographs and footage;

• editing and colour grading;

• sound editing and audio mixing;

• preparing proofs;

• delivering completed files;

• maintaining reasonable working backups; and

• recording what work was created and supplied.

 

Not every person appearing in event or commercial material will necessarily be the person who booked the service. Where appropriate, the client, event organiser, school, venue or commissioning organisation must inform participants that photography or filming will take place and provide any required notices or permissions.

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Anyone with a concern about being photographed or filmed should raise it with me or the commissioning organisation as soon as reasonably possible.

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7. Portfolio and promotional use

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Business and commercial work may be used in the Blacksteel Photography website, portfolio, social-media accounts and promotional materials after the work has been publicly released, unless a confidentiality agreement, embargo or written portfolio restriction applies.

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This use is normally based on Blacksteel Photography’s legitimate interest in showing examples of completed professional work. Reasonable objections will be considered, particularly where an individual could be placed at risk or seriously affected by continued publication.

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Photography or video commissioned for personal or domestic purposes will not be used publicly without separate and explicit permission.

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Personal portfolio permission is optional and is not a condition of booking.

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Where personal portfolio use is based on consent, that consent may be withdrawn for future use. I will take reasonable steps to remove affected material from channels under my control, although I cannot guarantee the recall of printed material or copies previously shared by other people.

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8. Children, schools and safeguarding

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Photography or footage involving children, schools, nurseries, youth groups or adults at risk may require additional permissions and safeguarding controls.

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The commissioning client or organisation is responsible for:

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• identifying anyone who must not be photographed or filmed;

• obtaining the permissions for which it is responsible;

• informing parents, guardians, participants or responsible adults where required; and

• communicating applicable safeguarding requirements.

 

Identifiable material involving children or adults at risk will not be used publicly by Blacksteel Photography without the required written approval.

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Any health, accessibility or safeguarding information provided to me will be limited to what is reasonably necessary.

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Where this amounts to special-category information, I will use it only where an additional lawful condition applies, such as explicit consent or the protection of someone’s vital interests.

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9. Sharing personal information

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Personal information may be shared only where reasonably necessary with:

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• Wix, which hosts the website, contact form and website analytics;

• FastHosts, which provides domain or email-related services;

• Google services, including Google Drive, where used for storage or delivery;

• software and cloud-service providers used to edit, store or deliver content;

• Adobe services where applicable;

• YouTube, Meta or other publication platforms where content is embedded, uploaded or published;

• music-licensing providers where a video requires publication clearance;

• banks and payment-service providers;

• suitably skilled assistants, second shooters, editors or subcontractors;

• venues, schools, organisations or clients involved in the relevant project;

• professional advisers, insurers, accountants or legal representatives;

• regulators, law-enforcement bodies or public authorities where required by law; and

• a prospective purchaser or successor if the business is reorganised, transferred or sold.

 

Assistants and subcontractors are expected to respect confidentiality, data protection and applicable safeguarding requirements.

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Personal information is not shared with third parties for their independent marketing purposes.

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10. International transfers

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Some service providers used by Blacksteel Photography may store or process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

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Where a restricted international transfer takes place, I will take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal safeguard is used. This may include:

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• UK adequacy regulations;

• the UK International Data Transfer Agreement;

• the UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses; or

• another transfer mechanism permitted under UK data-protection law.

 

Further information about the safeguards used for a particular service may be requested using the contact details in this notice.

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11. How long information is retained

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Different information is retained for different periods, depending on why it is needed.

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Enquiries that do not become bookings

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Enquiry information will normally be retained for up to 12 months after the last meaningful communication and will then be deleted unless there is a genuine reason to retain it for longer.

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Client and project records

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Accepted quotations, contracts, invoices, payment records, important correspondence, permissions and project-administration records will normally be retained for up to six years after the project is completed or final payment is received, whichever is later.

This allows me to comply with accounting obligations, answer questions about the agreement and establish or defend legal claims.

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RAW photographs

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RAW photographs will normally be retained for 12 months after final delivery and may then be permanently deleted.

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RAW video, audio and project files

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RAW video footage, original audio recordings, editing timelines and associated project files will normally be retained for six months after final delivery and may then be permanently deleted.

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Proofs and temporary files

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Watermarked proofs, preview files, temporary exports and duplicated working files may be deleted once they are no longer required.

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Completed work

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Finished photographs and videos may be retained for a reasonable period for:

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• project records;

• backup and recovery;

• responding to client queries;

• establishing or defending legal claims; or

• authorised archive and portfolio use.

 

Completed work will be reviewed and deleted or securely archived when it is no longer reasonably required.

Blacksteel Photography does not provide a guaranteed permanent storage or archive service. Clients remain responsible for downloading and securely backing up delivered files.

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Sensitive and safeguarding information

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Health, accessibility and safeguarding information will be deleted when it is no longer reasonably needed, unless it forms part of an incident, complaint or legal record that must be retained for longer.

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Website information

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Cookie and analytics information is retained according to the relevant cookie settings and the retention arrangements used by Wix and any applicable analytics provider.

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12. Cookies and website analytics

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The Blacksteel Photography website is hosted by Wix and may use cookies and similar technologies.

Some cookies are necessary for the website to operate, remain secure and remember essential settings.

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Other cookies may be used for:

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• website analytics;

• understanding general visitor activity;

• embedded video or social-media content;

• remembering preferences; and

• improving website performance.

 

Where consent is legally required, non-essential cookies will be used only after the visitor has made the relevant choice through the website’s cookie banner or settings.

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Visitors can change or withdraw their cookie choices through the available cookie settings. Cookies can also be restricted through browser settings, although doing so may prevent some website features from working correctly.

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Embedded services, such as YouTube or social-media content, may place their own cookies or collect technical information under their own privacy policies.

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13. Security

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I use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

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• unauthorised access;

• accidental loss;

• inappropriate disclosure;

• alteration;

• destruction; and

• misuse.

 

These measures may include password-protected accounts, restricted access, secure devices, appropriate backups and reputable hosting or storage providers.

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No internet, email or storage system is completely risk-free. If a personal-data breach occurs, I will assess it and make any notifications required by law.

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14. Your rights

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Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have the right to:

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• request access to your personal information;

• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;

• request deletion of your information;

• request restriction of how your information is used;

• receive certain information in a portable format;

• object to particular uses of your information;

• withdraw consent at any time; and

• complain about how your information has been handled.

 

These rights are not absolute. For example, information may sometimes need to be retained to meet a legal obligation or defend a legal claim.

 

I may need to confirm your identity before responding to a request. Requests will normally be handled within the period required by data-protection law.

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15. Your right to object

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You have the right to object to personal information being used where the lawful basis is legitimate interests.

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If you object, I will consider your reasons and stop the relevant use unless there is a compelling lawful reason to continue or the information is required for a legal claim.

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You can object by emailing contact@blacksteelphotography.co.uk.

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16. Data-protection complaints

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If you are concerned about how Blacksteel Photography has used your personal information, please contact me first so that I have an opportunity to investigate.

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Complaints can be submitted using the website contact form or by emailing:

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contact@blacksteelphotography.co.uk

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I will:

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• provide a clear way to make a complaint;

• acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days;

• investigate it without undue delay;

• keep the complainant appropriately informed; and

• explain the outcome.

 

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

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Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

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17. Third-party websites

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The Blacksteel Photography website may contain links to websites, social-media pages or services operated by other organisations.

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Blacksteel Photography is not responsible for how those organisations collect or use personal information. Visitors should review the privacy information provided by the relevant third party.

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18. Changes to this notice

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This Privacy Notice may be updated when business practices, service providers or legal requirements change.

The latest version will be published on the Blacksteel Photography website with an updated version number and date.

Changes will not make earlier unlawful processing lawful or remove any rights that already apply.

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19. Contact

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Questions, requests, objections and complaints concerning personal information can be sent to:

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Ben Wood trading as Blacksteel Photography
Email: contact@blacksteelphotography.co.uk
Website: blacksteelphotography.co.uk
Correspondence address: Supplied on quotations and invoices and available on request.