Yes. For corporate work or genuinely sensitive material, we can sign a non-disclosure agreement, and it is a normal thing to ask for rather than an awkward one.
When people ask, and when they should
| Situation | Worth an NDA? |
|---|---|
| Company milestone book with internal photographs | Yes |
| Client gifting where the client list is confidential | Yes |
| Unreleased product or workspace in the images | Yes |
| A public figure’s private family photographs | Yes |
| Legal, medical or institutional material | Yes |
| An ordinary family or couple’s photographs | Rarely needed |
For a personal gift the standard handling usually covers it. For anything where a leak has a commercial or legal consequence rather than a personal one, ask.
Ask before you order, not after
This is the practical part. An NDA needs to be in place before material is sent, which means raising it at the enquiry stage rather than once photographs are already in a chat thread.
It is a step of its own, and it sits before the clock on your delivery window starts. Building it into the timeline is easier than retrofitting it. Corporate and bulk gifting →
What it typically covers
An NDA here is about the material you send and what is made from it — the photographs, the text, the finished design, and the fact of the engagement itself if that matters to you.
If your organisation has its own template, that is usually the simplest route: send it and we will work from it rather than proposing our own.
⚠️ Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the terms of any agreement are whatever the signed document says rather than whatever a blog post summarises. Read it.
What to put in the first message
An NDA request moves fastest when the first message answers the questions it will otherwise raise:
- Who the agreement is between — your organisation’s legal name, and who signs for it
- What the material is — internal photographs, a client list, an unreleased product
- Whether the engagement itself is confidential, or only the content
- Your template, if you have one, attached rather than described
- The date the finished pieces are needed, so the paperwork can be fitted in ahead of it
With those in one message, the agreement can be looked at once rather than pieced together across a thread.
Reducing what needs protecting
An NDA governs what happens to sensitive material. Sending less of it is simpler still, and it is entirely in your hands.
Check the backgrounds. Office photographs carry whiteboards, screens, visitor badges and client names on walls. Crop or blur them before sending, rather than relying on anyone to notice.
Send the selection, not the archive. A folder of four hundred event photographs contains far more than the forty that will be printed. Choose first, then send.
Name files plainly. “Q3_board_offsite_DRAFT” in a file name says more than the photograph does. Numbers are enough.
Use one channel. The upload link or a single shared folder keeps the material in one place; a group chat puts a copy on every phone in it. Are my photos safe? →
Who sees the proof
The proof goes to whoever placed the order, and from there it travels as far as that person forwards it. For confidential work, agree internally who approves before it arrives — one approver and perhaps one reviewer — rather than circulating a watermarked preview of sensitive pages around a department. The fewer inboxes it reaches, the less there is to worry about afterwards.
If the finished pieces must never appear anywhere, say so in writing. Photographs are only ever posted with a customer’s agreement, but an explicit line in your brief removes any doubt.
What protects your photographs anyway
An NDA is a contract. The handling underneath it applies to every order, corporate or not, and is set out in the privacy policy — including how long uploaded material is held and when it is purged.
Three things worth knowing regardless of whether you sign anything:
Your photographs are used only to make your order. They are not licensed, sold or published.
You keep the rights to your own images. Sending them to be printed does not change who owns them.
Everything is deleted a week after dispatch. Photographs and print files are kept for seven days after the parcel leaves — long enough to reprint anything damaged in transit — and then permanently removed. If your organisation has its own requirements about deletion, raise them while the agreement is being discussed, so you get a straight answer about what we can do before anything is sent rather than after the pieces have shipped.
For a corporate order specifically
Raise it in the same conversation as volume and deadline, because all three shape the quote. A hundred books for a leadership offsite, with an NDA and a fixed date, is a different conversation from one book for a birthday — and it is much easier to have at the start. Gifting for large teams →
Frequently asked
Will you sign a non-disclosure agreement? Yes, for corporate work or sensitive material. Ask before sending anything.
Can you work from our company’s NDA template? Usually the simplest route. Send it rather than waiting for us to propose one.
Do I need an NDA for a personal gift? Rarely. Standard handling covers ordinary family and couple photographs; an NDA is for material where a leak has commercial or legal consequences.
Who owns the photographs I send? You do. Sending images to be printed does not transfer any rights in them.
When should I raise it? At enquiry, before any material is sent. It sits ahead of the delivery clock, so building it into the timeline is easier than adding it later.
Part of our questions people ask before ordering. See also: corporate gifting compliance and who actually designs the book.
For corporate work: Corporate and bulk gifting · Privacy policy