Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 2026

Who we are

The controllers responsible for personal data on astrophotography.art are:

Mark James Ford and Ines Mondon-Ford
Feldbergstrasse 96b, 61389 Oberreifenberg, Germany
Telephone: +49 173 6857354 or +49 173 8768708
Email: info@astrophotography.art

For any question about your data, or to exercise your rights, write to info@astrophotography.art.

We do not run an online shop. Pictures are available as single copy editions on request through our contact page; we do not sell through this website.

What we collect when you visit

Server log data. When you open a page, your browser sends technical data that our web server needs to deliver it: IP address, date and time, the page requested (URL), the referring page, browser name and version, and operating system. We use it only to deliver the site and keep it secure. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We do not combine it with other data.

Cookies. The site sets only cookies it needs to work, such as one remembering that you closed the cookie notice. If you allow reCAPTCHA on the contact page, the cookie ap_recaptcha_ok remembers that choice for one year; it is removed when you withdraw consent. We use no advertising or analytics cookies. You can restrict or delete cookies in your browser settings.

Google reCAPTCHA (contact page only, with your consent). Our contact form is protected against spam by Google reCAPTCHA (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). reCAPTCHA is not loaded on any other page, and on the contact page only after you click “Allow”. It then reads data about your visit, such as your IP address and how you use the page, and sends it to Google, which may process it in the USA. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, § 25(1) TDDDG). You can withdraw it at any time with the “Withdraw consent” link on the contact page. Without consent you can write to us at info@astrophotography.art. Google’s privacy policy.

Fonts. The site’s fonts (Montserrat, Roboto, Roboto Slab) are stored on our own server. Your browser does not connect to Google or any other font service to load them.

Vimeo videos. Two articles (the Hakos, Namibia articles in English and German) contain an embedded Vimeo video (Vimeo.com Inc., New York, USA). Opening those pages connects your browser to Vimeo, which receives your IP address and may set cookies. Vimeo’s privacy policy.

Links to other websites. Pages link to third-party sites (for example Instagram, Flickr, SIGMA). Their own privacy policies apply once you follow a link.

Contact form and e-mail enquiries

When you write to us through the contact form or by e-mail, we receive what you send: your name, e-mail address and message, plus the date and time. We use it only to answer you. This includes enquiries about picture editions, licensing, workshops and rentals.

Legal basis: steps you ask for before a possible agreement (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), otherwise our legitimate interest in answering your message (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

The contact form sends your message to us by e-mail; it is not stored in a database on the website. If an enquiry leads to an agreement (for example a picture or a licence), we keep the related correspondence and invoice for as long as tax and commercial law require.

Former online shop

Until November 2026 this website had an online shop. It is closed: no orders can be placed and no payment data is taken through the site.

No customer order was ever completed through the shop. Customer accounts created in the shop, and orders that were started but never completed, have been deleted. Card and payment details were handled by the payment providers and never stored by us.

Who receives data

We do not sell or pass on your data. These services receive it because the site uses them:

Recipient	What for	Data	Where
united-domains AG, Gautinger Straße 10, 82319 Starnberg, Germany	Web hosting and e-mail	Server logs, contact messages	Germany / EU
Google Ireland Limited, Dublin	reCAPTCHA on the contact page, only after your consent	IP address, usage data	EU; possibly USA
Vimeo.com Inc., New York	Videos in two articles	IP address, cookies	USA

Transfers to the USA rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, otherwise on the EU standard contractual clauses. We have a data processing agreement with our host (Art. 28 GDPR).

How long we keep data

Data	Kept for
Server log data	As set by our host, at most a few weeks, then deleted
Contact form and e-mail enquiries	Until your enquiry is answered and no follow-up is expected
Invoices and records of sales agreed by enquiry	Up to 10 years, as German tax and commercial law require
Former shop: customer accounts, uncompleted orders	Deleted

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

access the data we hold about you (Art. 15);
have it corrected (Art. 16) or deleted (Art. 17);
restrict its processing (Art. 18);
receive it in a portable format (Art. 20);
object to processing based on our legitimate interest (Art. 21);
withdraw consent you have given, for the future (Art. 7(3)).

To use any of these rights, write to info@astrophotography.art.

You may also complain to a data protection authority. Ours is the Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HBDI), Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany.