/ email: ek (at) elenakulikova.com
/ location: Oahu, Hawaii

ABOUT:

Elena Kulikova was born in Russia in 1985. She arrived to the United States in '94 to settle in San Francisco. At the age of 17 she began modeling, and after several years she followed her passion for photography.

Elena Kulikova's photographic work possesses that certain quality, which is discernible to the eye, but difficult to describe. Touching on a particular mood or evocative narrative, her fashion photography evoke sensuality, confidence, and dreaminess in a sweet harmony of garment and skin.

Elena approaches her photography and image making, with a larger perspective than that of just a photographer. When first realizing a concept for a shoot, all the elements of the piece come together in her mind with great detail & clarity. The same way she is able to replay the particular details of a dream she had the night before, she is able to envision photographic concepts in much the same fashion. Almost as if, the concept has already occurred in her mind, and she merely makes observations to it.

Her experience as a model, lends great insight & depth into her photographic work; as she has a deep understanding for what it means to 'become' someone else. She has also had the experience as assistant photographer to Craig McDean, Menno Kok, Nick Kidman, and Heath Roberts for ad campaigns such as Christian Dior, Max Mara, and magazines such as W, Esquire, Link and others. She has an incredible eye for detail. To her the micro-details of a scene contribute to the overall goal of creating an image fueled with complete feeling and purpose. An acute observer. A skill she honed as a student of MicroBiology ? this also informs her photography & art direction. Her eyes are trained in making observations which inform her concept, redirect it, and become part of her final hypothesis, which elegantly manifests itself into a beautiful photograph.