Elska, Issue 18 – Los Angeles (California)

Elska is a bi-monthly male photography and culture art-zine on 130 pages of beautifully stroke-able matte paper. Each issue is shot in a different city with men from that city, including not only their photographs but their stories too. It’s a sort of cross between a quasi-intellectual queer pin-up and a sort of sexy anthropology journal.

In this issue:

Welcome to the second edition of the eighteenth book in the Elska series, showcasing ordinary men from extraordinary Los Angeles. (Well, we tried to find ordinary men, but who’s ordinary anyway, right?)

Inside this new rendering of Elska Los Angeles, writer and photographer Liam Campbell introduces the city through encounters with over a dozen local gay men. Each of them took part in a photoshoot that comprised of street scenes and home scenes, the men dressed in their own style or often not dressed at all. For a city people often call ‘fake’, the images here are absolutely real, allowing you to get to know people rather than personas.

Each participant (aka ‘elskan’) was also invited to write a short story on any topic of their choosing. This book brings together a selection these elskans’ stories and diary-style texts contributed by Liam based on his recollections of the time he spent in LA and with these men. Some of the highlights include: Drew Droege’s stream of consciousness on his typical day in LA; Larry D’s ode to a society that makes him and his husband feel more accepted than he ever dreamed could happen in the USA; Dylan R’s tale of a hazy morning-after struggle to find his car; and Matthew G’s reminiscence of the big step he took to leave the closeted West Virginia boy behind and come out West Hollywood style.

‘Elska Los Angeles’ features fifteen chapters and the following local elskans: Grey Cotton, Kristopher Gee, Matthew G, Drew Droege, Lawrence Tiller, Gregory C, Alan Adolfo, Phinn S, Dylan R, Trentton Barber, Daniel Dehnert, Larry D and Tammie Brown