It always brightens our day when the latest issue of ELSKA our favorite queer photo-zine, lands in our in-tray.  We’ve been big fans of editor/chief photographer Liam Campbell since 2016, and he has taken us around his (queer) globe several times now.  To us, it’s his knack of seeking out a cross-section of the local gay community to bare both their souls and bodies that we warm to.  These are not poster boys but regular guys that we can relate to as they share their own stories about living on the other side of the globe and hwne it comes to sharing dreams and hopes, they so often bear many similarities to our own

For this latest issue, Campbell jetted off to LA , and he shared with us that he was so very surprised with what he found there. “On one hand, the men I met showed me that LA does it exist beyond its stereotypes, but at the same time, the cultural impact of Hollywood is never far away. I also found that Elska’s reputation for not featuring celebrities had to be broken here simply because meeting people in The Industry was unavoidable. I realised that this wasn’t a problem, though — celebrities are actually real people too!”

Campbell found plenty of regular Angelenos to take part in an intimate documentary-style photoshoot that includes images of them in the streets of their city, dressed in their own style, as well as images of them in their homes, not dressed at all. 

Each participant was also invited to contribute a story for the issue on any topic of their choosing. Story highlights include: Drew Droege’s monologue on his typical day in LA; Dylan Rubic’s tale of a hazy morning-after struggle to find his car; Tammie Brown’s stream of consciousness recollections of growing up in Mexico and Texas to drug-dealer parents and being robbed of a lipsync win against Latrice Royale; and Grey Cotton’s oh-so-LA ode to pushing through life’s various setbacks in order to make your dreams come true.

Elska Los Angeles is available in a collectible print book or in a downloadable e-book. In addition, the companion e-zine Elska Ekstra Los Angeles is available, containing eight more men and their stories, plus behind the scenes tales and hundreds of outtake images of all twenty-one of Elska’s Angeleno subjects. The publications are available for order online as well as from a select group of shops around the world. Ordering information and details of the subscription service can be found on the Elska website: www.elskamagazine.com.