For over 10 years, Elska has been photographing queer men around the world, and the men of LA are the latest to be featured.

This year alone, the acclaimed LGBTQ+ photo project has journeyed to Odessa, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Chisinau and Rome, and now it’s time for the gay men of La La Land to get the Elska treatment.

The latest issue combines honest photography and personal storytelling to capture the “ordinary men” of this extraordinary city.

The men featured all took part in an intimate documentary-style series to capture them both out and about in the city, and at home, in some cases wearing nothing at all.

Tammie Brown, of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame, is among the men to be featured in Elska Los Angeles. In a series of photographs, the reader steps into Brown’s stream of consciousness as they share recollections of growing up in Mexico and Texas to drug-dealer parents to competing in the world’s most famous drag series.

Other stories in this edition include Drew Droege’s typical LA day, a morning spent with Dylan Rubic as he attempts to find his lost car and an ode from Grey Cotten on what it takes to make your dreams come true in this city.

Elska‘s editor, writer and chief photographer Liam Campbell said he wanted the LA edition to counter some of the narratives surrounding the city.

“Since I started my Elska project, we’ve gained a reputation for showcasing diverse and regular guys from around the world, specifically not models and celebrities,” he said.

“Despite LA’s reputation for perfect people with fake plastic personas, I felt that my work would be perfectly suited to the city, a place full of pre-conceived ideas that I could try to prove or disprove. I found the idea of exploring what real life for regular Angelenos was like quite fascinating.”

The Elska photographer said that this project showed him that LA exists “beyond its stereotypes”. However, it also demonstrated that the “cultural impact of Hollywood is never far away”.

Elska Los Angeles is available as a collectable print book or as a downloadable e-book. You can order it from their website right here.

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