Privacy notice
Who we are LWP Search is run by Liam Winters, a sole trader trading as LW Photography. For anything about your data, email privacy@lw-photo.co.uk.
What this covers Our online photo galleries, where you can find and buy photos taken at events we photograph.
What we collect and why
| When | What | Why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| We photograph an event | Photos of you, the time taken | To offer them for sale | Legitimate interests |
| Adult events | A face template from each face in our photos | So you can find your photos by face, if you choose to | See "Face search" below |
| Adult events | Race or bib numbers read from photos | So you can find photos by number | Legitimate interests |
| You register before an event | Name, email, bib number if given | To tell you when photos are ready | Consent |
| You enter a gallery | Email, if the gallery asks for it | To give you access and, if you agree, send offers | Legitimate interests; consent for marketing |
| You search by face | Your answer to our consent question, and the search itself | To find your photos, and to prove you agreed | Explicit consent |
| You buy | Name, email, what you bought, payment confirmation | To deliver your photos and keep accounts | Contract; legal obligation |
| You choose WhatsApp delivery | Your mobile number | To send your photos | Consent |
We never see or store your full card details — Stripe handles payment.
Face search
Adult events only. Face search groups event photos by visual likeness so participants can find their own. It's switched on only where the event organiser agrees, and never used for tracking or any other purpose. To do this, we create a face template for each face in the event's photos — a set of measurements, not a photo.
Faces are never linked to a name or account, and matching stays within one event. Nothing is matched until you choose to search, and we always ask your permission first:
- Selfie search. You take a selfie with your phone or computer camera — it can't be an existing photo. It's used for that one search and isn't stored.
- Smart Search. You pick your face from a photo, and we look for it in the rest of that event's photos.
Say no, and you can still search by number or browse.
Face data is deleted automatically, no later than 90 days after the event. You can ask us to remove your face data at any time, or to have a match reviewed by a person, by emailing privacy@lw-photo.co.uk.
Youth events. We don't create face templates or read numbers from photos at youth events. Search uses non-facial details only.
Who we share it with
We use these companies to run the service. They act only on our instructions.
| Company | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services | Photo storage and processing, face templates | UK (London); face templates in Ireland |
| Supabase | Our database | UK, EU or US |
| Lovable | Hosting the website, and passing payment and WhatsApp requests to Stripe and Twilio | UK, EU or US |
| Stripe | Payments | UK, EU or US |
| Brevo | Emails | EU |
| Twilio | WhatsApp delivery | US |
| Google (Gemini), via Lovable | Reading race numbers from adult event photos when our main reader can't | US |
Where your data is handled outside the UK, it's protected either by UK adequacy regulations (including the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework) or by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.
How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Face templates | Until the gallery closes; 90 days after the event at most |
| Selfies | Not stored |
| Record of a face search | 1 day |
| Record of your consent answers | 7 years, to show we asked |
| Event photos | 3 years |
| Orders | 6 years, for our accounts |
| Customer details | 3 years after your last activity |
| Pre-event registrations | 2 years |
| Saved favourites | 1 year |
| Abandoned baskets | 180 days |
| WhatsApp number | Cleared 30 days after your photos are sent; we keep only the last three digits so we can help with support queries |
Your rights You can ask for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, object to how we use it, or withdraw consent at any time. Email privacy@lw-photo.co.uk. We'll reply within one month.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.