When we tell Queerguru readers that we are big fans of ELSKA, our favorite queer photo zine, is that it features local gay men in a different country every issue, because we learn so much of the world’s geography.  No really!  Seeing handsome men in states of dress and undress is just extra!  LOL. 

Elska’s Editor and Chief Photographer, Liam Campbell, has just returned from Akureyi, the northern capital of Iceland, with a portfolio of intimate photography and honest storytelling of local men all of whom manege to look hot even in these cold climates.  For Campbell, this trip brought back some happy memories as it was the very first ‘foreign’ country he visited when he first left his home in Wales aged just 18.  It was on that trip the accepting society encouraged him to come out and when he returned home and the stunning landscapes inspired him to make my photography hobby into a career. He also named the magazine that’s been the centre-point of my work with an Icelandic word — ‘Elska’ means ‘love’ in that language — and he made this concept of love a guiding force of his art

My goal is for readers of Elska not to lust after or admire my subjects, but to utterly fall in love with every one of them, just as I do.”

Elska’s format is half dedicated to photography and half to writing. The photographic component includes revealing shoots of the participating men in their city streets as well as in their homes, both with and without clothes. The text component is formed around these shoots, based on extensive diaries taken after meeting each subject, including conversations shared with them. From this, readers can get to know each of the men who are part of this book and get a sense of what it’s like to be queer and live in this very small and very special city.