Camera Stories is an on-going series where we ask photographers to tell us about their favourite camera, and give us the story behind one meaningful image they captured with it. This instalment features Los Angeles-based photographer Ryan Schude.

These were shot with a Lomo Lubitel 166+ which is a plastic toy version of a more traditional Twin Lens Reflex like a Rolleiflex. I carried it around with me for years and got a lot of great images out of it, one of the biggest advantages was how light it was.

It could be hit or miss which was part of the fun, the self portrait for example produced a crazy flare that I have never seen another camera do. This was caused by a grid of frosted window blocks just above and out of frame.

The other portrait is of my grandmother on Christmas in the Midwest. We called her Shana and she always had wild outfits on during holidays, St. Patrick’s was a big one too.