Introducing PXLCAM

I’m building a camera app that captures low-res images to reduce digital waste–and includes a countdown to act on climate change.

Do you really need another camera?
A 24MP sensor? 50MB RAW files? These huge resolutions and file sizes?

I love photography. I’ve also been trying to learn more coding. And lately, I’ve been asking: What can I create using what I already have?

So I’m building a camera app: PXLCAM.

What is PXLCAM?

PXLCAM is a phone camera app that intentionally saves low-resolution images.
Not just a filter. Real, small files.

It draws from the aesthetic of digicams and early digital photography—but more than nostalgia, it’s a response to our increasing push for more: more megapixels, more AI upscaling, more data… But all of that more comes with an environmental cost—especially in how we store, transfer, and endlessly duplicate massive files online.

The Climate Clock, Built In

Each photo taken with PXLCam embeds a timestamp and the Climate Clock—If you’re not familiar, the Climate Clock is a real-time countdown showing how much time we have left to meaningfully act on climate change. It’s usually seen on billboards in places like Union Square in NYC. But I wanted to make that timeline more personal–so now, it’s embedded into every photo I take with PXLCAM. It’s a small but steady reminder: the world, exactly as it is now, is worth capturing, worth noticing, and worth protecting.

Flowers outside a neighborhood market, ~173kb

Along the water in San Francisco, ~ 144kb

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Want to Follow Along?

PXLCAM is still a work in progress, but I’ll be sharing the process as I go. If that sounds interesting, subscribe to get updates! 🔔

This is going to be a bit messy, exploratory, and hopefully really fun.