Shutter Trail

How we handle your data

This page explains what Shutter Trail collects when you read the magazine, subscribe to the monthly dispatch, or send a location pitch, and what you can ask us to do with it.

What we collect

  • Your name and email when you subscribe to the monthly dispatch or write to us.
  • Any message you send, including location pitches, corrections, and questions about routes or labs.
  • Basic technical data: browser type, device, referring page, and the pages you open on the site.
  • Analytics events such as which location files get read and how far down the page readers scroll.

Why we keep it

  • To send the dispatch you asked for and to reply to your message.
  • To understand which field notes are actually useful, so we can plan the next season of routes.
  • To keep the site working and to spot abuse of the contact form.
  • To meet legal obligations if a request is made by a competent authority.

Cookies and analytics

We use a small number of cookies for session handling and aggregate analytics. They tell us how many readers opened a route note and which pages they moved to next. We do not run advertising cookies, we do not build reader profiles for resale, and we do not place tracking pixels from camera shops, labs, or travel partners. You can block or clear cookies in your browser at any time; the magazine will still read, though some preferences may reset.

Who else touches it

Subscriber emails and form messages pass through our email and hosting providers, and analytics data sits with our analytics processor. These are service providers acting on our instructions. We do not sell subscriber lists, and we do not hand reader emails to camera shops, labs, or tourism boards. If a provider is replaced, the same rules carry over.

How long we keep it

Dispatch subscriptions stay on file while you are subscribed and for a short period after you leave, so we can honour an unsubscribe request cleanly. Contact messages are kept only as long as needed to answer you and to track a correction. Analytics records are kept in aggregate form and are not tied to a named reader.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, or ask us to move it to another service. You can withdraw consent to the dispatch at any time using the unsubscribe link in any issue. Readers in the EU and the UK have these rights under the GDPR, and readers in California have comparable rights under the CCPA. Write to us and we will respond within a reasonable period.

Privacy requests and corrections

Send privacy questions, data requests, and corrections to the same address we use for everything else. A working photographer reads these, not a marketing desk.

Last updated: 12 March 2025

We do not claim partnerships we do not have, we do not publish sponsored location files, and we do not promise that a route will look the same on the day you walk it. Trains change, temples change their tripod rules, and labs close. When we get something wrong, we correct it in the open rather than quietly editing the page.

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