With well over 100 gigs attended by crowds big and small on any given week, it’s little wonder Time magazine bestowed Glasgow with the title of Europe’s Secret Capital of Music.

And whether it be a sweaty basement venue on Sauchiehall Street or a large concert hall or arena such as the OVO Hydro, chances are you’ll find Marilena Vlachopoulou in the photo pit, at the side of the stage or in the crowd, camera in hand, capturing the band or artist in action. 

The 32-year-old documentary and portrait photographer from Athens, now based in Glasgow, has carved out an essential role within the city’s rich and diverse music scene, way beyond merely documenting it from in a variety of analogue formats with her punk lens spirit, one that’s rich in black and white imagery thanks to the influence of the darkroom on her work.  

Such has been her contribution the past few years since her graduation from Kelvin College in 2018, it would not be hyperbole to suggest she has helped conjure up a fresh new visual identity for Glasgow’s post-punk/new wave subculture and gig landscape from behind her camera.

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Named one of the Young Greek Photographers the year at the 2020 Athens Photo Festival and a Scottish Portrait Awards finalist the same year, her work has featured in the pages of the likes of Vogue, Clash, The Wire, NME, The Skinny and The Quietus, while the past few years have seen her work with local favourites such as VLURE, Walt Disco, Theo Bleak and Free Love as well as music royalty such as The Cure, Primal Scream, Roxy Music and Amyl and The Sniffers.

Being able to combine her twin passions of music and photography in Scotland’s biggest city, and the success that has come along with it, is a far cry from her initial steps in photography documenting her friends’ bands while growing up in her native Greece. 

She says: “It was never planned but I’m proud to call Glasgow my second home. Although my first field of studies was within the travel/hospitality industry I always had an underlying interest in photography. I used to love taking snaps of my friends’ bands growing up but it never occurred that it was something that I could turn into a ‘serious’ thing. 

“Eventually after spending my first two years working in North Berwick and Aviemore, I managed to work my way to Glasgow where I eventually embarked on my photographic journey, this time for real. I took up a course at Glasgow Kelvin College and was taught by some of the most inspiring photographers in Christine Stevenson and Simon Murphy. I graduated in 2018 and started documenting the music scene of my local area the following year.”

Finding herself part of a community among Glasgow’s musicians has provided her with the support and encouragement to fully devote herself to her craft, one which saw her capture around 100 gigs in the city last year as the busy concert calendar returned to normal health post-pandemic.

She says: “Glasgow has such a vast variety of options for every music lover. There’s something happening every week. Apart from the obvious fact that a lot of beloved bands hail from here, it is also a common stop for touring artists. Following the return to normality last year, I wanted to challenge myself by shooting as much as possible and managed to photograph approximately 100 shows.

"I definitely feel that if I still lived back home there wouldn’t be that much of a chance to shoot so many different acts all at once. As much as everyone is enamoured by Athens, it is that sort of place that is just a little bit out of the way, geographically speaking, compared to other European cities, often being skipped from tours.

“Another thing about Glasgow is that it has definitely made me feel more welcome to explore and fully devote myself to my craft while being encouraged and supported not only by a network of creatives but in general. I think that the attitude towards artists is a lot better without it being a constant struggle to be taken seriously as an artist. There’s definitely more support for artists in Scotland.

Aside from capturing Glasgow’s underground scene as it plays out in the city’s myriad of small venues or seeing the whites of the eyes of her favourite artists up close from the photo pit, Marilena presents her own radio show on Clyde Built Radio, a station which “celebrates Glasgow’s musical misfits, amateurs and seasoned DJs every weekend”.

This, she says, has further helped her develop a sense of community, 1,800 miles from home.

She adds: “I love inviting guests over to share my one-hour slot and it’s usually people from the music world as well as other creative arts. Glasgow is such a small and friendly place where if you’ve worked in this industry once or twice, you instantly know everyone. It’s really important to me to have the support of like-minded individuals. It does make me feel wanted and welcome to be part of the scene. A lot of folk will agree that our community is stronger together. We are nothing without each other.”