Privacy Policy
Last updated: 7 October 2026
Look Closer is a personal photography project run by Hugo Vermaak in Johannesburg, South Africa. This page explains what personal information the site collects, why, and what you can ask me to do with it. It is written with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) in mind.
Who is responsible
Hugo Vermaak is the responsible party and information officer for this site. You can reach me at hello@lookcloser.co about anything on this page.
What I collect
When you use the contact form. The form asks for your name, your email address, what you’re getting in touch about and a message. When you send it, those details go to Web3Forms, which emails them to me so I can reply. Web3Forms keeps a copy of each message for a limited time (at most three years) and then deletes it automatically. I keep the email for as long as our conversation needs it, and delete it on request.
When you browse. The site is delivered by Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare handles technical details of each visit — such as your IP address, browser type and the page requested — to deliver pages and protect the site from attacks.
Visitor statistics. I use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see how many people visit, which pages they read and where they came from. For each page view it records the page, the site that sent you there, your country, your browser, operating system and type of device, and how quickly the page loaded. It doesn’t use cookies or store anything on your device, and it doesn’t follow you from site to site or build a profile of you. I only ever see totals, never who you are. I don’t use Google Analytics or any advertising trackers.
Saved palettes. If you mark palettes as favourites in the colour archive, the list is saved in your own browser so it’s still there next time. It never leaves your device, and clearing this site’s data in your browser removes it.
Other services the site relies on
- Cloudflare. Delivers the site and provides the visitor statistics above. Cloudflare is based in the United States and runs servers around the world, so information about your visit may be processed outside South Africa. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy.
- Web3Forms. Passes contact-form messages on to me by email and keeps a copy for a limited time, as described above. It may process them outside South Africa. See Web3Forms’ privacy policy.
- Proton Mail. Hosts the hello@lookcloser.co inbox, so emails to me, including contact-form messages, are stored by Proton in Switzerland. See Proton’s privacy policy.
- Ko-fi. If you choose to support the project, you do so on ko-fi.com, and Ko-fi and its payment providers handle your payment details — I never see them. Nothing from Ko-fi is loaded on this site until you follow a link there. See Ko-fi’s privacy policy.
- Instagram. Links to @lookcloserproject and to supporters’ profiles take you to Instagram, where Instagram’s own privacy policy applies. Nothing from Instagram is loaded on this site.
Supporters
If you support the project as a patron, I may thank you on the site by showing your Instagram handle and profile picture, linked to your Instagram profile. The picture is stored on this site rather than loaded from elsewhere. Ask me and I’ll take it down.
Cookies
Look Closer doesn’t set any cookies, and the visitor statistics don’t use them. If Cloudflare needs to check that a visitor isn’t an automated bot, it may set a short-lived security cookie (such as __cf_bm or cf_clearance). These are strictly necessary to protect the site and aren’t used to track you. See Cloudflare’s list of the cookies it may set.
Photographs
The photographs on this site are mine. Location and camera details are removed from the images before they’re published.
Your rights
Under POPIA you can ask what personal information I hold about you, ask me to correct or delete it, or object to how it’s used. Email hello@lookcloser.co and I’ll respond as quickly as I can. If you’re unhappy with my response, you can complain to the Information Regulator.
Changes
If the way the site handles personal information changes, I’ll update this page and the date at the top.