Terms
The terms I work to for commissions and for licensing photographs. Short enough to read before you book.
Last updated September 2026
Who you are contracting with
Photography is carried out by Dr Matthew Thompson through Lutra Ventures Ltd (company number 17312196), Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. These terms apply to every commission and licence unless we have agreed something different in writing.
Booking a date
A date is held once you have confirmed in writing and paid the booking fee of [state a percentage or a fixed amount]. Until both of those have happened the date stays open to anyone else who asks for it.
If plans change
Tell me as early as you can and I will move the date if I can. Rescheduling more than [state a period] before the shoot costs nothing. Inside that window the booking fee is not refundable, because the date has been held and other work turned away.
What a quote covers
The quote sets out the shoot, the edit, the number of finished photographs and the licence attached to them. Extra time, extra locations or extra people are quoted before they happen, never added to an invoice afterwards.
Payment
Invoices are payable within [state a number] days of the invoice date. Organisations can be invoiced against a purchase order if you send me the number before the shoot.
Delivery
Finished photographs arrive in a private online gallery, normally within [state a number] working days of the shoot. Raw files are not supplied.
Copyright
Copyright in every photograph stays with me. Your fee buys a licence to use the photographs in the ways we agreed, and nothing more. Wider use is priced separately and set out on the Licensing page.
Credit and alterations
Editorial use carries a credit to Matthew Thompson. Cropping to fit a layout is fine. Compositing, retouching and colour changes need agreement first.
People, and clinical settings
Photographs of identifiable people are made and published within the consent given at the time. Work in clinical settings follows the consent, governance and safeguarding agreed with the organisation beforehand, and that consent sets the limit of what can be used later, by me or by you.
If something goes wrong
If illness or an emergency stops me attending, I will offer another date or return everything you have paid. Beyond that, my liability is limited to the fee paid for the work in question and does not extend to indirect or consequential loss. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
Complaints, and the law that applies
Tell me first and I will try to put it right. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.