Shot on 35mm

September 22, 2025

When I started building ThirtyFive, my iOS app named after 35 mm film, it wasn’t just about mimicking the look of old photographs. It was about chasing a feeling.

Film has always carried a kind of gravity. Every roll forced a choice: color or black and white, muted tones or vivid saturation, grainy texture or crisp sharpness. Those decisions shaped how you saw the world before you even lifted the camera to your eye. With digital, that sense of commitment often gets lost. You shoot endlessly, tweak endlessly, and sometimes the magic dissolves into perfectionism.

Film simulations reintroduce that commitment. They let you step into a mood—Classic Chrome for quiet nostalgia, Acros for stark honesty, Velvia for electric landscapes—and once you’re in, the way you notice light, shadow, and subject matter changes. It’s not a filter you slap on later; it’s a philosophy of seeing.

That’s the heart of ThirtyFive. I’m not trying to recreate film as a novelty. I’m building a space where digital photography can feel intentional again. Where images don’t just record, but remember.

Because in the end, the special thing about film simulation isn’t accuracy. It’s that it turns photography back into a choice, and choices are what give art its soul.