35mm film for Street Photography (and the workflow I built around it)

28mmStreet
3 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

March 2026 - Blog# 25

For ten years, street photography for me was entirely digital. I moved through different systems and brands, learned to react quickly, and built my visual instinct through thousands of frames. Film was always present in the background mostly because I grew up with 35mm film.

But it stayed dormant until 2020, I combined digital and analog occasionally using my dads old USSR SLR camera but in 2024 more seriously when I bought my Leica M6 2022 reissue.

I slowly realized that film stopped feeling like an experiment and started feeling like the way I wanted to do street photography. I started to like the way my photographs was made.

For the past year (2025), I’ve done street photography exclusively on 35mm film, and with that shift came a complete workflow — from the Leica M6 becoming my main edc, the film I hand-roll, to home developing, scanning, and converting each photograph myself.

The camera setup I trust every day

My everyday setup is built around the Leica M6 2022 reissue, paired mainly with a 28mm Voigtländer Ultron, now increasingly replaced by the Leica Summicron, and occasionally a 50mm Voigtländer, depending on the mood I’m in.

The 28mm focal length remains my preferred way of seeing the streets. It gives me enough context, forces closeness, and creates the kind of immersive perspective I’ve grown attached to over the years.

The 50mm comes with me when I want a tighter frame, more separation, or a slightly quieter way of working.

Because I shoot only prime lenses, each focal length asks something different of me. There’s no zoom to rely on, which means distance, framing, and anticipation all become part of the process before I even press the shutter.

That simplicity is one reason 35mm film works so well for me.

But the camera is only one part of the process. What really changed everything was building the rest of my workflow around black and white film.

My analog workflow - explained

Most of what I shoot these days is black and white, and over time I started hand-rolling my own film.

Partly for cost, but mostly for control and way I connect with the whole analog experience.

Hand-rolling allows me to keep my workflow consistent, shoot more freely, and always have film ready without depending on pre-loaded rolls.

Black and white photography was not really a conciencous decsion - the pivot to b/w just slowly happend - first with my Fuji x100v with a Tri-x 40. film simulation then on to the real deal.

B/W suits the way I experience the street. It strips away distraction and lets light, shape, gesture, and contrast carry more weight.

Because I know the film stocks well (Tri-x, Hp5+, Kentmere and Fomapan), I also know how it "reacts" before I even develop it. That familiarity becomes part of the rhythm.

Once the film is loaded, the next part of the workflow begins at home — and that’s where analog becomes even more personal for me.

Home development completed the workflow

I didn’t start with home development because the process initially felt cumbersome.

But as I became more confident in other parts of shooting 35mm film, developing at home started to feel like the natural next step.

Color film I still send to a local lab — for me, that remains worth both the cost and time.

Black and white, however, became part of my own process.

It means the workflow doesn’t stop when I come back from the street — it continues in a quieter, more deliberate way.

Now in 2026, I develop all my black and white film myself, which gives me full control over consistency and timing.

The same way a camera becomes second nature, developing eventually did too.

With time, I feel I’ve refined the process to a point where I simply enjoy it.

My scanning and editing workflow

Once the negatives are dry, I scan everything myself.

This part matters because scanning is where the photograph begins to take its final shape.

I prefer keeping this part of the workflow in my own hands rather than outsourcing it, because subtle decisions in contrast, density, and tonal balance affect how my photographs ultimately feels.

For conversion and edit, I use Negative Lab Pro, which has become an important part of my workflow. Its super easy to convert my negatives to positives in a single click.

For editing- unlike my digital photographs I hardly edit my film photographs. I just do small contrast and exposure adjustments - nothing more.

For me the goal is always to keep my photograph honest.

35mm and the workflow I build around it

Digital taught me speed, flexibility, and discipline. I still value everything those years gave me.

But film gives me something different. It slows me down without making me less responsive.

Because the process continues through development and scanning, each photograph feels

connected to a full chain of decisions rather than a quick capture.

Taken together, these steps are exactly why film no longer feels like an alternative to digital for me — it feels like the complete process I was looking for.