By Aleksandria Rudenko | Published 28 October 2026

Black and white portrait of a young woman by a canal, sunlight across half her face and a fur-trimmed coat slipping off her shoulders

Nora flew in from the US for a week in Amsterdam, early in spring. She grew up with her grandmother’s black-and-white prints and wanted portraits on Fomapan, a real black-and-white film. We met by the canals on a sunny afternoon in March.

A walk like this is what my analog photoshoots in Amsterdam are about: one small part of the city, a vintage film camera and time to look. She prepared nothing; I chose the streets and guided her through every frame.

Where
The canal belt, Amsterdam
When
March, mid-afternoon
Session
B&W Film Photoshoot
Light
Clear sky, low spring sun and long shadows

March Sun on the Canal Belt

The roll in my camera was Fomapan 100, a classic black-and-white film from the Czech maker Foma. That afternoon the sky was clear, and the trees along the canals were still bare. As a result, the sun reached all the way down to the bricks. On this film, light like that becomes a play of deep blacks and bright whites.

Woman in a long dark coat leaning on the iron posts along an Amsterdam canal while a small boat passes behind her
The canal belt on a clear March afternoon

By the water, Nora leaned on the iron posts along the canal, her long coat open, while a small boat slid past.

One Frame at a Time on Fomapan

Film asks for a slower rhythm. I take one photograph at a time, so at each click I asked Nora to pause for a moment. Then she could move again. Mostly, though, I simply gave her somewhere to walk: across the street, around a corner, back into the sun.

Woman walking past parked cars on a sunny canal street, her coat flaring and a long shadow stretching across the brick paving
Woman in a white top and wide trousers on a street corner in the canal belt, glancing back over her shoulder in bright sun

Between frames, the camera came down and we talked. A short video from the same street shows what a session on film looks like from the side.

In front of the canal houses, mid-afternoon

Backlit Portraits in a Side Street

Some of my favorite frames from this roll face straight into the sun. In a narrow side street, her face fell into shadow while the houses behind her glowed. By a tall facade, the sun flared over the windows and stretched her shadow across the pavement. Then a beam of light crossed her cheek and hair, and I pressed the shutter before it moved on.

Backlit portrait in a narrow Amsterdam side street, her face in shadow while sunlight glows on the brick houses behind her
Sunlit canal house with tall windows and a woman standing by the steps, the sun flaring over the facade and her shadow on the pavement
Black and white portrait on Fomapan 100 of a woman looking over her shoulder as a beam of light crosses her cheek and hair

Her long leather coat with its fur trim did half the work. She swung it open and let it fall again, a movement that comes across better in a few seconds of video than in any still.

A sunny canal street, a little later

A Quiet Moment on the Cobbles

On a quiet street, Nora crouched on the cobbles, chin in her hand. Bikes and a lamppost stood behind her. She looked calm and completely herself, which is what I want portraits on Fomapan to keep for years.

Young woman crouching on the cobbles of a quiet street with her chin in her hand, bikes and a lamppost behind her, on Fomapan

Before we said goodbye, we posed together by a bridge railing in the sun, my camera still in my hand. For more ideas for a session of your own, see my solo photoshoot ideas.

Smiling woman in a white top and brown coat beside a woman in sunglasses who raises a film camera on a sunny canal bridge

Would you like portraits on Fomapan of your own? Discover how my analog photoshoots in Amsterdam work.