Blue Rose, photographed by Andrej Russkovskij.This story was taken with a Mamiya RB67 on Kodak Portra 400 and Ilford Delta 400 (120mm).
My name is Andrea aka Andrej Russkovskij. I’m an Italian-born, Berlin-based queer analog photographer. Over the past years, I’ve been working closely with queer creatives in Berlin, building an ongoing body of work that explores the many ways queerness exists, performs, resists, and softens within this city.
For me, portraiture is about paying attention: observing who is in front of me, understanding their energy, and translating that truth into an image. Queerness, in this sense, is not a costume but a lived language. Blue Rose Royalty is a project born from that instinct.
When I came across Chris, known as Blue Rose Royalty, on Instagram, I was immediately struck by his confidence and presence. There was something distinctly American in his energy: young, self-possessed, leather-coded, with references rooted somewhere between the 1950s and the 1980s. It felt like an aesthetic and emotional space worth exploring together.
We met in the Berlin studio I co-rent, and very quickly the direction of the shoot revealed itself. What began with a 50s–60s sensibility gradually evolved into something more explicit and charged, moving toward a 80s soft-porn, erotic visual language.
What he delivered completely blew me away: the range, the fearlessness, the trust. Shooting him felt effortless and electric all at once.
I wanted to start the year by photographing strong personalities I’m genuinely drawn to, blending their aesthetic with my own vision and seeing where it leads. And I can feel it now: I’m definitely on the right track.
Photographer: Andrej Russkovskij @andrejrusskovskij / andrejrusskovskij.com
Model: Blue Rose @blueroseroyalty
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