A Gay Goodbye to Berlin and Reykjavík
The second and third issues of Elska Magazine, made in Berlin (Germany) and Reykjavík (Iceland), remain our top selling issues of all time. They not only sold well when they first were published but they continue to sell well (we've actually reprinted each of them six times since their original release). But now there are less than ten copies left of each, and this is the last chance to get them. We are not planning to print more.
I'm not sure why they're so popular to be honest, but my best inkling is that it's because these two cities are some of the hottest tourist destinations for LGBTQ people. Perhaps some customers choose which Elska issues to buy because they want a sort of preview of a city they'd like to visit, or because they want a souvenir of a city they have fond memories of visiting in the past.
I can understand the love for these towns. Reykjavík certainly is very special to me. I in fact named Elska Magazine using an Icelandic word ('elska' means 'love'). It was the first foreign country I ever visited and spurred a lifelong love of travel. It's also a ridiculously beautiful and unique place, the sort of country that everyone must see once in their lives. And it's super gay friendly as well, meaning that we can feel particularly welcome there.
I also have a fond relationship with Berlin. While Reykjavík was the first foreign city I visited, Berlin was actually the second. I went there with my future husband when I was 19 and there I had a real learning experience. I was rather innocent then, maybe a bit tainted with Catholic shame too — when I went to a bar and found a dark room full of guys having anonymous sex (no, I’d never even heard of a ‘darkroom’ before that), I was a little appalled but mostly intrigued. So many gays have ‘Berlin sex stories’ that it’s really a cliché, but for me it’s a fact that Berlin started a journey to sex positivity that has gradually taken root in me. And it’s a point of view that I try to let inform my work with Elska too.
All that said, knowing the love for these cities, and considering that it's just not good business sense to not reprint issues that are still selling, I still feel it's time to wave a gay goodbye to Berlin and Reykjavík. I want some of the other twenty cities we've featured to get more of the attention. Perhaps one day we'll publish issues in these cities again, but they'll be brand new issues, with new pics, new stories, and new perspectives.
Liam Campbell is editor and chief photographer of Elska Magazine. He'll be in Berlin this May, not to shoot though, but if you want to buy him a drink, he might not to refuse it.
