Elska welcomes you back to Reykjavík
I am excited to announce the latest release from Elska Magazine — Elska Reykjavík (Iceland). Back in March we conducted a poll to see which of our dozen past sold-out editions you'd like to have reissued; literally hundreds voted, and this was the winner.
Even though this is a re-issue, I made a big effort to make it as new as possible, which I achieved by doing it completely from scratch. I went into the raw photo archives from the Iceland shoots and then re-selected and freshly edited every image. I also included some content that wasn't published in the original edition, including two new men (Sigurður H and Ólaf H) and four new stories. Finally, I created a new cover and put it all in our new bigger, lovelier format.
Inside the 196-page issue, readers are introduced to thirteen local guys, each of whom is photographed intimately at home or out in the city (we also included some trips out of town to see some of Iceland's legendary landscapes). The men also each wrote a personal story, letting you get to know them better. This includes Davið J's piece about growing up as the 'little blond girlieboy' that the other kids didn't understand, Kolbeinn H's charming tale about first-date nerves, Sigurður H's story about how one little compliment on his "nice butt" changed his outlook on life, and Ólaf H's saga on the history of his love life, told one love at a time.
In addition to the new Elska Reykjavík, I’ve also completely re-written the companion zine Elska Ekstra Reykjavík. Inside its 322 pages are loads of outtakes and extra stories, including six guys who couldn’t quite fit into the print mag. Then, forming a sort of 'Gay Iceland Trilogy', I've created a brand new book called 'Fifteen Icelandic Swimming Pools'.
This new book is also known as ‘A Gay Guide to Swimming in Iceland’ and was made during a trip to Iceland last November/December. Originally meant as a mental health holiday, I’d left my camera and laptop at home, hoping just to drink coffee, read, and relax in the country’s many wonderful geothermally heated swimming pools. I kept a diary, took a few snaps, and also did an impromptu nude shoot of a local guy in Akureyri. I didn’t know if I’d ever ‘do’ anything with it all, but when covid happened, I decided to expand the notes, go through the pics, and make this book.
All three are available from our website, separately or in a 'Gay Iceland Trilogy' bundle that includes Elska, Elska Ekstra and ‘Fifteen Icelandic Swimming Pools’.
Liam Campbell is editor and chief photographer of Elska Magazine, a project that’s seen issues made on every continent, excluding Antarctica, though maybe a Falklands issue could happen one day! You never know!
