Elena Sofia Mitrofanov
British/Russian student living in Paris, music was the gateway to my discovery of concert photography, and remains today at the center of my work.
Since being asked to take pictures of my friends' concert in September 2025, at a rock club called the Supersonic, my handy Canon EOS R10 has made its way through most Parisian music venues.
My style focuses on visualising artists' emotion and passion - through grit, grain, overexposure, blur... My aim isn't hyperrealism, it's showing the artist when they're most in touch with their creation.
Today, I have enlarged my sphere of work - taking part in promotional shoots and videos for bands and magazines.
Between sound & light
Halfway between realism and something liminal, as if these human figures were driven by a supernatural aura, this is how one might describe the work of Elena, a British-Russian artist who is currently studying in Paris but grew up in Oxford.
Her art, which began in a Parisian venue, Supersonic, is marked by spontaneity and by capturing the present moment. All of these textures and almost eerie figures creating a sense of strangeness that can recall certain disembodied human forms found in Francis Bacon’s paintings.
Other visual artists, such as the photographer Nan Goldin, have also inspired her because of the emotional resonance of her work, as has Salvador Dalí for the aesthetic of Surrealism. If stage photography is her preferred subject, that is no coincidence either. Having grown up in Oxford and absorbed its musical influence, the city that saw the birth of one of her favorite bands, Radiohead, she has developed a passion for British musical genres such as indie rock, post-punk, and even 1920s and 1930s jazz.
She therefore moves between London and Paris, although she has recently settled in the latter. She currently works for Noize, a female-led rock music magazine.