A short version, since almost nobody reads the long one: we collect the minimum we need to do the work, we keep it only as long as we have a reason to, we do not sell it or share it with marketers, and this website sets no cookies and loads nothing from any other domain.
The rest of this page is that statement written out properly, followed by the terms of business that apply to a commission. If anything here is unclear, write to hello@stillwater.example.com and one of the two of us will answer in plain words.
What we hold
A photography studio does not need much personal information, and we have never been able to think of a good reason to gather more than the job requires.
Your name, the email address or telephone number you contacted us on, and whatever you told us about the work. That is all. The enquiry form on the contact page asks for a name, an email address and a description of what you need photographed, and it has no other fields. We never ask for payment details, identity documents or account credentials by email or through this website, and any message claiming to be from us that does is not from us.
The above, plus a billing address, a purchase order reference if your organisation uses them, and the name of whoever is approving on the day. For location work we hold a site address and often a caretaker’s telephone number. For team headshot days we are given a list of first names and job titles so the running order matches the files, and we delete that list once the delivery is signed off.
The photographs themselves, the shot list, the marks and notes made during selection, and the correspondence around the job. If you use the live tethered view, the names and email addresses of the people you asked us to issue codes to.
We do not build profiles, we do not track behaviour across websites, we do not buy contact lists and we do not run a mailing list of any kind. There is no newsletter to unsubscribe from because there is no newsletter. If you enquire and do not book, you will not hear from us again unless you write first.
Where a period is longer than we would choose, it is because an accountant or an insurer requires it. Everything else goes when it stops being useful.
| What | Why we have it | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries that did not become bookings | So we recognise you if you come back | 2 years |
| Job correspondence | Context for the work and any later questions | 2 years |
| Quotes, contracts and invoices | Required for tax and accounting | 7 years |
| Model and property releases | Evidence of permitted use | Life of the licence |
| Raw capture files | Reprocessing, reprints, re-delivery | 2 years |
| Delivered image files | Free re-delivery if you lose them | 5 years |
| Live view session marks and notes | Part of the job record | 2 years |
| Live view video stream | Not recorded at any point | Not kept |
| Web server access logs | Keeping the site running | 14 days |
| Delivery link records | Confirming a file was collected | 90 days |
After five years we may still hold delivered files, but we cannot promise it, so please keep your own copy of anything you rely on. Deletion requests are honoured for everything except the records we are legally required to retain, and we will tell you specifically which those are rather than using it as a catch-all.
This website
Every page on this site is a single file. It sets no cookies, runs no analytics, embeds no third-party scripts and makes no requests to any other domain — no fonts, no maps, no video players, no social buttons.
The illustrations are drawn in the page itself rather than loaded as images, which is why they are abstract shapes rather than photographs, and why the site remains readable on a slow connection. The only script on any page is a dozen lines that open and close the menu on a small screen, and it sends nothing anywhere.
Our web host keeps ordinary access logs: the network address a request came from, the page requested, the time, and the browser’s own description of itself. These are rotated on a fourteen-day cycle and are used for nothing except keeping the site running and understanding an outage. They are not combined with anything else, not shared, and not used to identify individuals.
If you have arrived here with a script blocker, an ad blocker or a strict privacy setting turned on, everything will work exactly as it does without them, because there is nothing for them to block.
This is the complete list. None of these organisations uses your information for their own purposes, and none of them receives more than the specific thing described.
Sees invoices · once a quarter
A local practice that prepares our accounts and returns. They see invoices, which carry a business name, a billing address and an amount. They do not see briefs, correspondence or photographs, and they are bound by their own professional confidentiality rules.
Beyond that list, the only circumstance in which we would hand anything over is a lawful request we are obliged to answer. We have never received one. If we did, and we were permitted to tell you, we would.
Live view sessions
Because the live tethered view involves a camera feed leaving the building, it is worth being specific about what happens to it.
The live video is encoded on the studio capture machine, sent to the browsers of the people you named, and then discarded. It is not recorded by us, not stored, and cannot be replayed afterwards by anyone including us. If you want a record of a setup, ask for a frame to be captured; that is a photograph and it goes into the job like any other.
The captures themselves are stored, because they are the shoot. So are the approve, hold and reject marks and any notes typed against a frame, which stay with the job record for the ordinary two-year period along with the rest of the correspondence.
The session issues one link and one code per named viewer. We keep that list of names and email addresses with the job, and we do not add anyone to a session on the day without a word from whoever booked the shoot. The capture machine keeps a short technical log of connection quality — when a viewer joined, when they left, and whether the stream had to drop to a lower setting — which exists so we can tell a struggling connection from a fault at our end. It holds no image data and is cleared after fourteen days.
Sessions are not open to the public and are not indexed anywhere. A link expires at midnight on the day of the shoot; the review session that follows expires after fourteen days.
Images of people
Where a shoot involves recognisable people, we ask each person to sign a simple release before or on the day. The release records what the pictures may be used for and by whom. Anyone can decline, and declining does not affect the booking — we photograph around it, or we restrict the use and note the restriction on the delivery sheet so nobody discovers a limit two years later.
Personal portrait clients receive a licence for personal and social use. If a personal portrait is later needed commercially, write to us and we will extend it, in almost every case at no charge.
If a sitter changes their mind about a particular use, tell us. We will remove those frames from our own portfolio immediately and inform the commissioning client. We cannot recall material that has already been printed or distributed, and we will say so honestly rather than promise otherwise.
We do not publish photographs of anyone under eighteen without the written consent of a parent or guardian, and we do not use images of children in our own marketing at all, regardless of what a release permits.
All of these are free, none of them require a form, and the answer comes from one of the two partners rather than a system. Write to hello@stillwater.example.com.
A misspelt name on an invoice, a wrong billing address, a job record that says the shoot was in March when it was in May. Tell us and it is fixed the same week. Where a document has already been issued we will reissue it, and where an accountant has already filed something we will explain what can and cannot be changed after the fact. Corrections are made to the live record and, where it matters, noted on the job file so the change is visible to whoever looks at it next rather than quietly overwritten.
Terms of business
A booking is confirmed when we receive a signed quote and the deposit. The quote, together with these terms, forms the agreement between us. Where the two conflict, the quote takes precedence, because it describes the specific job. Nothing said in a telephone call overrides a written quote; if we agree something on the phone, one of us will put it in writing the same day.
Copyright in all photographs remains with Stillwater Studio. What you receive is a licence, described in full in the licensing section of the main page and summarised on every quote. For commercial commissions that licence is perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive and broad enough to cover any ordinary use in your own marketing. Delivery of files does not transfer copyright, and files may not be resold as photographs or sub-licensed to an unrelated third party without written agreement.
One third on booking, the balance within fourteen days of delivery, by bank transfer. We work against purchase orders and can invoice a finance address that differs from the person commissioning the work. For commissions over $5,000 we will split the balance into two payments at no extra cost. We do not charge interest on late payment for the first thirty days, after which the statutory rate applies. We reserve the right to withhold publication-quality files until the balance is settled, though in twelve years we have not had to.
Cancel more than fourteen days ahead and the deposit is refunded in full. Between seven and fourteen days, half is retained. Inside seven days the deposit is retained in full, because that slot is very unlikely to be filled again. Where a shoot is postponed rather than cancelled, the deposit transfers to the new date at no charge for the first move; a second move is treated as a fresh booking. Weather is the exception: if an interior or exterior shoot has to move because of conditions nobody could have planned around, we reschedule once at no charge.
If a shoot overruns because of us, the extra time is free. If it overruns because samples arrived late, a room was not ready or an approver could not be reached, we keep going where we can and invoice the additional hours at the rate stated on the quote, in thirty-minute blocks and always agreed out loud before the clock starts. We will tell you before an overrun becomes a problem, usually with about an hour to spare.
Our liability for any single commission is limited to the fee paid for that commission. We carry public liability and professional indemnity insurance and certificates are available to any client who needs them for site access. We are not liable for delays caused by circumstances outside our control, including weather, illness, refused site access, or a building not being ready on the agreed date. If we damage something on a location, we will tell you the same day.
Tell us straight away. If the images do not do what the brief asked for, we reshoot the frames in question at our own cost, and that has happened a handful of times in twelve years. If the brief itself changed after the shoot, we will still help, but that becomes a new booking. Either way we would rather sort it out than have you quietly use pictures you are unhappy with.
These terms and this privacy notice are reviewed each January and were last reviewed at the start of this year. Material changes apply to bookings made after the change, never retrospectively to a job already quoted. If we change something that affects an active commission, we will write to you rather than expecting you to notice.
Everything on this page is handled by the two partners directly. Write to hello@stillwater.example.com, or use the details on the contact page. There is no legal department to be passed to, which is either reassuring or alarming depending on your last experience of asking a company what it holds about you.