Whether its pixels or the physical structure known as grain, photographic images will always be composed of parts. These parts play an integral role in our perception of the image. The quality of a photograph - its sharpness, texture, tone and rendition of color - depends entirely on this underpinning. However much photography is touted for its powers of verisimilitude, as we peer deeper and deeper into an image we enter a realm of the representational and interpretive.

Here we argue that 35mm distinguishes itself in the character of its representation. The way grain interprets light is in essence an approximation, and the beauty of 35mm grain is the way it dramatizes as it approximates. Since we are speaking of representation, we could say that 35mm, particularly 35mm chromes, contain a distinct emotive set of colors, hues and tonal range. The subtle greens, cyans and light cyans found in daylight shadows falling indoors, for example, are uniquely 35mm, in much the same way that, say, the French painter Bonnard chose an almost proprietary patchwork of colors to represent his experience of the interiors and landscapes of southern France. >