We're a fan of Lomography cameras here at oh comely. These plastic and retro-looking gadgets became popular in Vienna as a new, artistic approach to photography in the 1990s. Today there's a worldwide community of amateur Lomo photographers who pursue spontaneous, creative and experimental ways of taking photos.

Photo: Lomo's well-loved Diana F camera.

There's a Lomography pop-up shop open this August in Selfridges, so pass by for a visit if you're curious about the world of Lomo. Shaped like a big yellow ship, the pop-up store allows you to browse the quirky, colourful film cameras and even borrow one for just £1. That's hardly a fee to complain about, and we left Selfridges with two cameras in hand, saying good-bye to the digital era as we took to Oxford Street with 36 photos on the film.

My initial photos were tentative attempts to catch a good shot. But as the hour wore on and with only 10 photos down, I became more careless, taking pictures of anything that caught my eye. As the golden rules of Lomography state: don't think, be fast and don't worry about breaking conventions of photography. And that's what we did by playing with the flash, inserting coloured strips to warp the image into shades of blues and reds, and snapping traffic cones or people's feet.

Photo: One of Lomo's kooky fish-eye cameras.

When I got the photos developed, some were blurred and quite non-descript but these dreamy, lo-fi images also captured a feeling of nostalgia that picture-perfect digital just doesn't seem to do.

Find out more on Lomo on their website.

You might remember seeing Crista Leonard's photography in issue four of oh comely. She's a portrait and fashion photographer based in Barcelona and London, whose images are frequently set amongst mountains, beaches or cities like Berlin. We caught up with her to ask about life as a photographer.

What is one of the most challenging situations you've experienced as a photographer?

Weather. You can normally make it work in some way, but on a shoot for the cosmetics company Les Ettes on the French coast last June, we had heavy rain and dark clouds all week. We all ended up with cabin fever and our filmer got so depressed that he holed himself up in his room to read poetry. I'd also say that being a photographer is a challenge in itself. You are your own business and you have to be constant, however bleak the situation may seem.

What photographers do you admire?

Old school photographers like William Eggleston, Diane Arbus or Saul Leiter are obvious classics. I like more modern photographers like Larry Clarke, Ryan Mc Ginley, Tim Barber, Yelena Yemchuk. I like a lot of snowboarding and skate photos and blogs have a wealth of photography that just seems to get better and better. My friend Angeles Peña is also incredibly talented, you should check her out.

What's the camera of your dreams?

A large format camera. One day ...

Photo: A image from Crista's shoot for oh comely, issue four

You recently spent some time in Berlin, how did you find the city?

I love Berlin. In fact, I love it so much that I think I'll move there next summer for a couple of months. Berlin summers are electric; the whole city breathes with life, art, music. It's one of the only places left in the world that isn't so structured and as a result it feels free.

What are you reading at the moment?

I was reading Franny and Zooey by J. D Salinger, because The Catcher in the Rye was one of my favourite novels in my teens, but I haven't engaged with it as much. I'm in California right now so I want to get a copy of Jack Kerouac's Big Sur, and then go to Big Sur. What a cliché!

You can see more of Crista's work over at Element Eden, or on her website. 

All images © Crista Leonard