Over the last few years, Elska Magazine has built a strong reputation for capturing intimate portraits of queer men across various cities, from Almaty to Los Angeles to Melbourne. The latest edition of the photography magazine sees the Elska team head to the southern Balkans, specifically to Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo, in the southern Balkans.

Elska Pristina is the 56th book in the series and captures the photography of Liam Campbell and Philip Mowbray, beautifully blended with personal storytelling. The edition features intimate portraits and stories from nine men from the queer community, both on the city streets and in their own homes. In some photos, they showcase their personal style, while in others, they pose nude, exhibiting tender moments of vulnerability.

Ahead of the edition’s release, Elska‘s editor shared why he decided to venture to the Balkans.

“After ten and a half years of making Elska in cities all over the world, I realised that we had a big gap in the Balkans; we decided to fill that with Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, Europe’s youngest country,” Campbell said.

The editor and chief photographer also discussed the need to collaborate on this project.

“This is a fascinating place, so I knew we needed to do it justice by bringing in a second artist to collaborate. That’s Glasgow-based photographer Philip Mowbray, whose excellence in environmental photography adds a special touch to the issue,” he said. 

Campbell also spoke about what sets Elska Pristina apart from other editions.

“Elska Pristina is the first in our series to have a multi-city arc, following the journey to Pristina with sojourns in Skopje, North Macedonia and Thessaloniki, Greece,” he said.

“Second, the storytelling is shared by four different authors — Liam Campbell, Philip Mowbray, Haki Haliti, and Macedonian poet Aleksandar Kochovski. Third, this is the first issue to feature analogue film work, providing a rough and real aesthetic that perfectly suits Balkan cityscapes.”

You can learn more about Elska Magazine on their website.