One more week of Elska Reykjavík glory
There's just about one week left before our next brand new Elska issue is released, so I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our current reigning issue-in-the-spotlight, Elska Reykjavík.
Back in March when the virus crisis had finally hit the entire world, I realised that my Elska work would have to pause, or at least make some big adaptations. My first idea was to write a little book based on a trip to Iceland I took a few months prior, a trip that was meant to be a mental health holiday but which turned into an obsession to visit as many local pools as possible. The snaps and diaries I kept during this trip were expanded into a book called 'Fifteen Icelandic Swimming Pools'. My second idea was to revive a past sold-out Elska issue. For this I ran a public vote, and the winner was Elska Reykjavík. I decided to remake the issue completely from scratch, adding lots of previously unused photos, some new stories, and a couple extra guys that weren't published in the original. Then both publications got released in May along with a revamped Elska Ekstra Reykjavík companion zine.
Even with all the votes cast, it's always a risk to reissue anything since the vast majority of sales come right when an issue is brand new. And I can’t just print a few, there’s always a minimum run of at least 500 copies.Then, since at the time of release over 75% of the shops that normally stock Elska were still closed, I'd have to rely on sales from my website alone. All things considered, I perhaps should have just shut Elska down for a while, but I didn't want the project to lose momentum. And even more than that, I needed to keep busy, so releasing something would help maintain my fragile sanity.
Fortunately, even with all the potential problems, the release didn't go too badly at all. For one, Elska Reykjavík managed to pip ahead of our Berlin issue to become our best selling issue of all time. For two, quite a few people wrote into compliment the new cover design. And for three, I got some lovely personal letters about the 'Fifteen Icelandic Swimming Pools' book, one guy even suggesting I do some sort of series like it. I'm hesitant though — that book was so personal that I'm still feeling uncomfortably raw for having shared so much. Oh well, I suppose it's only fair after having asked hundred of other guys in Elska to share themselves!
Obviously I love Iceland, but I'm still not sure why others seem to love it so much as well. Somehow though every gay in the world can’t seem to resist Reykjavík, and I’m not going to argue with them. I’d give almost anything to be there now, to take a swim at Vesturbæjarlaug and then grab a coffee and waffle at what is maybe my favourite café in the world, Mokka Kaffi — thanks Sigrun, my former Icelandic teacher at UCL, for the recommendation! I know I'll be back one day, even if now I need to keep patient.
And as for the future of Elska, I did fortunately shoot some content in January before covid went ballistic. But I didn't want to release any of it until they could have a fuller amount of attention, when shops would be open, when people would be back to work, when people would feel somewhere closer to normal again. Next week, probably on 15th July, the next totally new Elska issue will be launched. Stay tuned.
And after that, well I'm aiming to shoot an issue in my own country at the end of July / early August. I hope that by doing this I can keep safer and make others feel safe too. Fingers crossed.
Liam Campbell is editor and chief photographer of Elska Magazine, a project dedicated to travelling the world, meeting local guys, and presenting them through honest photography and stories.
