From the Arch Club Journal

Why a generation raised on screens is choosing film

The phone takes a perfect picture every time. That is exactly why so many people have put it down.

Written by Arch Club, a members' club that shoots only on film.

Film was supposed to be finished. Instead it is in the hands of people too young to remember it the first time. Labs have waiting lists, old cameras sell out, and new films keep arriving. Here is what we think is drawing them in.

Five reasons

I
It slows you down.Thirty six frames, no screen on the back. You look longer, choose more carefully and press the shutter only when it matters.
II
It makes you wait.Days pass between the moment and the picture. The wait turns a photograph back into something to look forward to.
III
It looks like nothing else.Grain, the gentle roll of highlights and colour that a filter only imitates. People notice the difference even when they can't name it.
IV
It is real.When an image can be generated from a sentence, a negative is proof that someone stood in front of something with a camera.
V
You can hold it.A print, a contact sheet, a strip of negatives. In a world of feeds, an object you can keep feels rare.
The phone records everything. Film chooses.

Not nostalgia

It is easy to call this a trend. We think it is something steadier: a wish for pictures with weight. Fewer of them, made with more care, kept for longer. That is the idea Arch Club was built on.

White marble stilettos with red marble straps on a black marble plinth
Shot on film at Arch Club

ARCH CLUB

A members' club for foot photography, shot only on film.

Every Arch Club photograph is made on a Canon EOS-1V, a Mamiya 7 or a Fuji GW690II, with real models in New York and never AI. Members receive new film photographs every month, and collectors can own the original negative, sealed in display resin with a print of their choice.

Membership$49.99/mo
Polaroid$111
4×6 print$200
Negatives$1,100 to $2,000
Cameras35mm, 6×7, 6×9
Become a MemberBecome a Model

Anyone can find a picture. Few will ever hold a photograph.

Visit Arch Club

Published by Arch Club, Brooklyn, New York.