Elska is a project centered on traveling around the world, meeting a selection of everyday local guys, and introducing their city and their lives to readers through honest photography and personal stories. Below, photographer Liam Campbell shares exclusively with GayCities a selection of photos and behind-the-scenes commentary about some of the lovely men he met in Yokohama, Japan, for the latest issue…
Ryoji S
Each issue of Elska is made in a different city, and of the 46 issues we’ve made so far, Yokohama was the most difficult yet in terms of being able to find local guys willing to participate. Although I was aware that Japan could be a conservative place, I let my notions of the country as one of the most modern and forward-thinking places on the planet assure me that it would be a good idea to make an Elska there. But once I arrived, I got more rejection than I’ve ever encountered.
It’s not that people were rejecting my work; it was more that they kept giving various reasons why they personally couldn’t be part of it. Excuses such as their family or boss not approving or that they found themselves “too ugly to be in a magazine” were frequent. Luckily, however, we successfully created our Elska Yokohama issue, which included photos and stories from twelve local men.
One of the first men we met was Ryoji. He wasn’t really worried about his family’s reaction, insisting that attitudes towards “gay stuff” were evolving in Japan. And he wasn’t worried about his workplace either because he worked for an American company. What he was worried about was posing shirtless in public. Doing this was his idea, but it took a lot of time to finally muster up the courage to do that scene. And I had to be very quick with my camera too, because as soon as anyone would walk nearby, he’d quickly hide and throw a blanket around himself. I wondered why he had brought a blanket with him… that was why!
Click through for more photos of Yokohama’s men.