Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
The Heirloom Studio
Last updated: July 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how The Heirloom Studio collects, uses, stores and protects personal data.
The Heirloom Studio is a photography business based in Youghal, East Cork, Ireland, specialising in family, newborn, maternity, children’s and portrait photography.
In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refers to The Heirloom Studio.
Data Controller
The Heirloom Studio is the data controller for the personal data we collect and process.
Business name: The Heirloom Studio
Contact: Vivien Drese
Location: Youghal, East Cork, Ireland
Phone: 086 233 0582
Email: info@heirloomstudio.ie
Website: www.heirloomstudio.ie
How We Collect Your Information
We may collect personal data when you:
- contact us by email, phone, text message, WhatsApp, social media or website contact form
- make an enquiry or booking
- complete a questionnaire, contract, consent form or booking form
- attend a photography session
- purchase digital images, prints, albums, frames, vouchers or other products
- use our online gallery, booking system, payment system or website
- sign up to our mailing list or marketing updates
- leave a review, comment or message on social media
- enter a competition, promotion or giveaway
Personal Data We May Collect
Depending on the service you book or the way you contact us, we may collect and process:
- your name
- your email address
- your phone number
- your postal address
- names and ages of children attending a session
- details about your family members who are part of the session
- pregnancy due date or baby’s date of birth where relevant to newborn or maternity sessions
- session preferences, styling information and questionnaire answers
- payment and invoice details
- order details, including galleries, prints, products and digital files purchased
- photographs and video content taken during your session
- written messages, emails, reviews or feedback you send to us
- consent preferences, including image use and marketing preferences
- technical website information, such as IP address, browser type, device information and cookie preferences
We only collect information that is relevant and necessary for the service we provide.
Children’s Personal Data
As a family, newborn and children’s photographer, we may process personal data relating to children, including their name, age and photographs.
We take particular care when handling children’s personal data and images. Images of children will only be used for marketing, website, social media, portfolio, awards, training or promotional purposes where suitable permission has been given by a parent or legal guardian.
Parents and guardians may withdraw image-use consent at any time. This will not affect any lawful use that took place before consent was withdrawn.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We may use your personal data to:
- respond to enquiries
- arrange and manage bookings
- prepare for your photography session
- provide photography services
- create, edit and deliver galleries and final images
- process payments, invoices and orders
- arrange delivery of prints, albums, frames, vouchers or other products
- provide client support and communication
- manage contracts, consent forms and records
- keep business and accounting records
- comply with tax, legal and regulatory obligations
- improve our website, services and client experience
- send marketing emails or updates where you have agreed to receive them
- use images for portfolio, website, social media, advertising, awards, training or promotional purposes where suitable permission has been given
Lawful Basis for Processing
We process personal data under one or more lawful bases under GDPR, including:
Contract
We process your personal data where it is necessary to provide the photography service you have booked or requested.
Consent
We rely on consent for certain activities, such as optional marketing emails and the use of client images for website, social media, portfolio, awards, advertising or promotional purposes.
Legal obligation
We process certain information where required by law, for example for tax, accounting and business record keeping.
Legitimate interests
We may process personal data where it is necessary for the running of our business, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include client communication, business administration, record keeping, service improvement, fraud prevention and protecting our legal rights.
Sharing Your Personal Data
We do not sell your personal data.
We only share personal data where necessary to provide our services, run our business, comply with the law, or where you have given permission.
We may share limited personal data with:
- professional print labs
- album, frame and product suppliers
- courier or postal services
- online gallery providers
- booking system providers
- payment providers
- accounting and invoicing software providers
- website hosting and email service providers
- IT support or cloud storage providers
- professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers
- social media or advertising platforms, where relevant and where consent has been given
- tax authorities, regulatory bodies or law enforcement where required by law
Where we use third-party service providers, we take reasonable steps to ensure they handle personal data securely and only for the purpose required.
Some third-party services may process data outside the European Economic Area. Where this happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards where required by data protection law.
Online Galleries and Digital Delivery
We may use online gallery systems to allow clients to view, select, purchase and download images.
Client galleries may contain personal data, including photographs, names, email addresses and order information.
Clients are responsible for keeping gallery links, passwords and download PINs private and for downloading and safely backing up purchased digital files.
Image Use and Consent
Your images will not be used for marketing, website, social media, advertising, awards, training, portfolio or promotional purposes unless suitable permission has been given.
If you give permission, this may include use on:
- The Heirloom Studio website
- social media pages such as Facebook and Instagram
- printed marketing materials
- photography awards or professional submissions
- studio samples or portfolio displays
- educational or training purposes
- advertising or promotional content
You can withdraw consent for future use by contacting us. Please note that withdrawal of consent may not always allow us to remove images that have already been printed, published, shared by others, submitted to awards, or used in materials already in circulation.
Marketing Communications
We will only send marketing emails, newsletters, offers or updates where you have agreed to receive them or where we are otherwise legally permitted to do so.
You can unsubscribe or withdraw consent at any time by contacting us or using the unsubscribe link where available.
We will not sell your details to third parties for marketing purposes.
Payments
We may use third-party payment providers to process payments. We do not store full card details on our own systems.
Payment providers may process payment information in line with their own privacy and security policies.
Cookies and Website Data
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to make the website work properly, improve the visitor experience, understand website traffic and support marketing or advertising where consent has been given.
Non-essential cookies, including analytics and marketing cookies, should only be used with your consent.
For more information, please read our Cookie Policy.
Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, including for business, legal, tax, insurance and client service reasons.
As a general guide:
- enquiry details may be kept for up to 2 years
- client booking records, invoices and order records may be kept for up to 7 years for tax and accounting purposes
- purchased final images may be stored for a reasonable period as part of our client archive, but clients should always download and safely back up their own files
- unpurchased or unselected gallery images may be deleted after the selection period stated in our terms and conditions
- online galleries may be removed after the period stated in the client terms, booking information or gallery email
- consent records may be kept for as long as needed to show that permission was given
- images used for portfolio, website, awards, samples, publications or promotional purposes may be retained for as long as they remain relevant, unless consent is withdrawn and removal is reasonably possible
- legal, complaint or dispute records may be kept for as long as necessary to protect our legal rights
We may delete old, unpurchased, unselected or expired galleries without further notice once the stated selection or storage period has passed.
Security
We take reasonable steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction.
These steps may include secure passwords, device protection, secure storage, website security, restricted access, backups and using reputable third-party service providers.
However, no method of online transmission or digital storage is completely secure. Clients should take care when sharing gallery links, passwords, download PINs or personal information online.
Links to Other Websites
Our website may contain links to other websites, services or platforms.
Once you leave our website, we are not responsible for how other websites collect, use or protect your personal data. We recommend reading their privacy policies before sharing personal information.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have rights in relation to your personal data. These may include:
- the right to access the personal data we hold about you
- the right to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data
- the right to request deletion of your personal data
- the right to restrict how we process your personal data
- the right to object to certain processing
- the right to data portability
- the right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
- the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission
Some rights may be limited in certain circumstances, for example where we are required to keep records for legal, tax, insurance or legitimate business reasons.
How to Exercise Your Rights
If you would like to access, correct, delete or restrict the personal data we hold about you, or if you wish to withdraw consent, please contact us at:
Email: info@heirloom.ie
We may need to confirm your identity before processing certain requests.
Complaints
If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter.
You also have the right to contact the Irish Data Protection Commission.
Data Protection Commission
6 Pembroke Row
Dublin 2
D02 X963
Ireland
Website: www.dataprotection.ie
Email: info@dataprotection.ie
Phone: 01 765 0100 or 1800 437 437
Updates to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, website, systems, suppliers or legal requirements.
The latest version will be available on our website.