I shoot daily with a digital Nikon body, I intend to return more and more to the roots of my photography story from my childhood when I first took a camera in my hand in kindergarten. Therefore in all cases when applicable I also take film photos as well.
This happened on one of the very last days of June in 2025. With Zita we planned a combined analog and digital photo shoot at the bank of the Duna river in my town Dunakeszi (Hungary).
As a usual summer day in Hungary we had around 35 degrees celsius with direct sunlight with only some small clouds. The scent of the river-beach full with sun-cream and delicious food smell from a nearby buffet was blended to the noise of the sun-kissed crowd lying next to the Danube.
While we entered this scene the multitude of eyes were fixed on us most probably not because of myself. So we moved apart and started the preparation from the clothing of the model and the photography apparatus point of view.
Beside the digital Nikon Z6II body I took that day my old Nikon FA with 50mm 1.8 AI lens and my favorite companion the Yashica-Mat TLR. For the 35mm film I chose a classic Kodak Pro Image ISO 100, but for medium format I decided to try something not usually used for portrait photography, the Lomochrome Purple. I assume this is not a typical choice for this purpose but I was really excited to see what we will achieve with the actual environmental conditions.
I planned to shoot parallel with digital and film cameras so I attached all of them to me. After this moment both Zita and myself attracted eyes on the beach for her beauty and for my appearance like a decorated Christmas tree.
The Kodak film worked as expected and trained me again to re-learn what I knew when I started photography in1987 as it was told to me at that time – do not shoot against the sun. But anyhow, I loved these 35mm images from the beach as one of my first return to portrait photography on film.
The Lomochrome Purple brought something better compared to what I expected. I chose this special media because of its color shifting feature. I expected a dominance of bright purple and turquoise due to the available colors at the beach and the reddish blonde hair of Zita leading to a moody image with a dazzling flamingo from a dream.
Portrait model: Zita Heltai (Instagram link)
Gear for the specific picture of flamingo: Yashica-Mat TLR
Film used for the shot: LomoChrome Purple Pétillant 120 ISO 100–400
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Ibraar Hussain on Charming Flamingo – One Shot Story
Comment posted: 30/01/2026
Having a very attractive model always helps
For a second I thought there was a spider crawling up her thigh!!!
Comment posted: 30/01/2026