And so the story begins

Like many important events in life, it all began by chance.

“Why don’t you apply your experience in finding images and managing licenses to the field of academic publications? It would be very useful for scholars, I may hire you even now”, this is – more and less – what a dear friend, an art historian, told me during a stroll in Villa Torlonia in a luxuriant June afternoon.

I’ve always thought that publishers take care of image search and acquisition of publication rights for their books or journals, and I had no idea that authors are often required to provide images and licenses along with their texts.

At the end of that summer, I started to offer my services as a freelance image searcher and picture editor to scholars. I did a simple and naive email marketing campaign (the GDPR has yet to come) to let people know that I existed and I was lucky enough to have my first clients soon.

And so began my journey through freelance work and through the complex world of artworks reproductions.

Having worked in the media industry as a photo editor and desk for news agencies and photographers, I knew how publication rights work and I knew most of the picture libraries that license art images.

But I learned straightaway that picture libraries are just a source among many others, that they can’t fulfill every need and that, often, they’re the most expensive source of all.

I had to learn from scratch how each country handles the permission to reproduce its heritage, which laws regulate it and how the landscape is swiftly changing.

Now I’d like to share a part of my knowledge, my thoughts and some notes with my clients and with anyone interested.

Follow this blog if you like or reach me at marina@juliafoto.it if you have any questions, I would be glad to answer!