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The name Phaos comes from the ancient Greek word for light, and the logo is made to represent the interaction between a photon and a silver halide crystal. Logo and photo: Danielle Honan |
Ask a photographer how they feel about Instagram, and you’re likely to get groans. Many of us, at best, have a love-hate relationship with the app, especially since the CEO announced in 2021 that the platform would focus on video going forward. Now, the photographs you’re proud of may not even be shown to everyone who’s chosen to follow you, thanks to the opaque and increasingly mutable algorithm.
For film photographers, the frustration with social media platforms like Instagram is compounded by the challenges associated with the medium. Managing scans of rolls of film can be quite difficult and requires lots of organization or time, or you’re left with camera rolls and hard drives filled with images without any clear information or context.
While there have been social media apps meant for film photographers in the past, few have taken off, and none have really stuck. Danielle Honan hopes to change that with Phaos – a platform built not around the logic of social media, but around the logic of film. I sat down with Honan to find out what drove her to build it, and where she sees it going.
What Phaos does differently
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| The Phaos platform can serve as both an archive and a social media platform. Image: Danielle Honan |
In terms of design, every decision in Phaos reflects how film actually works, rather than how general social media works. For Honan, having the roll as an integrated unit was very important, and so she designed the app to allow users to upload an entire roll at once. “It has inspired me to shoot more film,” she said. “When I get a roll, I’m super excited to have the pictures together in one place.”
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| When uploading a roll of film, you can add a range of useful information. Screenshot: Abby Ferguson |
When you upload an entire roll, it is formatted as a contact sheet with specific looks for 35mm, 120 and large format. It also gives you the opportunity to add information such as the camera, film stock, development lab, if it was expired, any pushing or pulling information, development date and general notes. You can choose to publish the roll to your profile for public view, or simply keep it as part of your personal archive.
There are more traditional social media app features, too. You can still post individual photos without uploading an entire roll, and can like and comment on individual images. There’s also a feed of people you follow, with photos shared chronologically, and a feed to discover new photographers whom you don’t follow. “I like the idea of seeing pictures in the order they were posted,” said Honan. “That’s how Instagram started, and now I don’t even know how I’m seeing things on my feed. It’s really nice to see it when someone posts a new picture.”
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| Phaos has a feed of people you follow, and a feed to discover new photographers. Images: Danielle Honan |
That focus on discovery is an important one for Honan. When I asked her how she wants users to feel as they scroll through the feed compared to Instagram, she focused on inspiration. “I definitely want them to be inspired and to engage with other photographers, to learn from them and connect with them,” she explained. “For example, someone posted a fantastic photo with Harman Red film stock and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to try this.’ So finding inspiration to shoot film more, try different things, and learn.”
“I wanted to create a space that appreciated the intentional, slow process of film”
Creating a slower pace was also a critical feature for Honan as she developed Phaos. “I wanted to create a space that appreciated the intentional, slow process of film and where I could look back at what I did,” she said. Honan explained that she sees the chronological feed as a way to create that slower pace. “You’re only posting when you have pictures, so you’re not generating new content all the time,” she said. “You’re not going to get stuck doomscrolling like you would on Instagram.” There are also no ads or videos in Phaos, giving a much different experience from today’s Instagram.
Honan has found that the ability to see an entire roll has a similar slowing-down effect. Taking the time to look at all 36 exposures from a roll makes you move a bit slower than quickly scrolling through disparate images, and it gives you a new perspective on someone’s work. She also purposefully didn’t include a carousel-like feature. “I got rid of the carousel; on the iOS app, you scroll through it more like a gallery to create a more intentional experience,” she said.
Identifying the gap
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A view of the profile page in the iOS app. |
Hona’s decisions about the design and functionality of Phaos are inspired by film, but they also come from experience with other apps. Like many of us, she took to Instagram to share her photographs, but it became increasingly frustrating. She explained how, unless you’re a giant account, your work simply doesn’t get seen. The app’s move to video was a tipping point. “When I started attempting to create Reels on Instagram, I was like, ‘I’m spending way too much time trying to share my work on a platform that is not making it possible,'” she said.
In 2022, she discovered a web app called Grainery, which became quite popular with film photographers. There was a premium version that cost $3 a month, and Honan (and others) liked it enough that they were paying that fee. The solo developer released a beta for the iOS app, but then they basically disappeared, and no final version was ever released. The web app isn’t receiving any updates, either.
“I’m spending way too much time trying to share my work on a platform that is not making it possible”
Since then, other apps have appeared, some of which seem to copy Grainery quite closely. But with all of those, Honan felt like they were missing the mark. She wanted something that went beyond a typical social platform for film, and instead added useful features tailored specifically to film photographers. In her mind, there should be an app that looks at the roll as a unit, a personal archive you can look back through.
Managing files is a challenge for all photographers, but film photographers have some added layers of complexity. Honan described the process of getting a WeTransfer link back from a lab and dumping all the images into her camera roll. Unless you take the time to set up a specific organizational structure, those images end up buried, with no metadata to help you remember information like camera, lens and lab.
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| The app and web versions let you upload an entire roll to view it as a contact sheet, or tap to view a single image at a time. Image: Danielle Honan |
“I feel like the gap is putting your rolls together, not just single posts, but posting an entire roll of photos together and being able to look back at those as your own personal digital archive, like a contact sheet,” she explained. “I felt like I would get the most value out of that personally because I don’t have a way to track or organize my rolls in my camera roll. I was actually shocked that didn’t exist in another film social media platform yet.”
What’s next
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| Image: Danielle Honan |
Phaos is still very much in its early days. Honan started building the platform in March, and she has big plans for it. So much so that she decided to take some time off from her economic consulting job. “I think part of why I left was that I just wanted to create things and build things, and working full-time, I wasn’t able to do all the stuff I wanted to do,” she told me.
Thanks to previous platform development time, Honan said it took roughly two weeks to build the initial version of Phaos. She has been iterating ever since and now has both a web platform and an iOS app with around 100 users at the time of writing. She also plans to start work on an Android version soon.
The next primary feature that she’s working on is a forum. “It’ll be a place for things like ‘film versus digital’ or ‘film versus iPhone’ comparisons and more in-depth discussion about your work,” she explained. “It gives you a way to recycle your work, like adding your photos to a communal album of ‘red tone’ photos and seeing what others uploaded.”
She’s also focused on the experience of using Phaos and how she can make it easier to use than other apps. “I hate the effort required to post on Instagram. One thing I’m considering is having a separate gallery within Phaos of all your film once you upload a roll, making it easier to select from that to create posts,” she said.
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| Even though it’s in its early days, the Phaos app allows for a fair amount of customization, including three background color options. Images: Danielle Honan |
As with any app, there’s always the question of how it can be financially sustainable. It’s still so early that Honan hasn’t solved that, but she is clear that she wants it to remain free. “I’ve intentionally avoided monetizing for now,” she explained. “Film is already so expensive; I’m not trying to profit off people like me. Maybe in the future, it could be a way for photographers to sell prints or host a portfolio. I really believe the core product should be free.”
“I want to build a strong, robust community around film that’s eager to engage”
Honan says she wants to make the platform strong enough to serve as a full replacement for other social media apps. “I want to make it feel like the only platform you need,” she told me. Even more important, though, Honan wants Phaos to be the landing spot for film photographers of all types and levels. “I want to build a strong, robust community around film that’s eager to engage and be genuine,” she said.
From a personal standpoint, an app tailored to film photography, with a better way to organize and revisit my rolls, is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Finding community around a shared passion is never easy, and if Phaos can be that place for film photographers, it’s worth keeping an eye on.
If you’re interested in checking it out, head over to the Phaos website or download the iOS app.