Announcement: 2020 Expired Film Day contest winners!

Another year and another Expired Film Day — we have winners to announce from the seven prize categories for 2020. This was a difficult year for film photographers — and really, for most anyone around the word.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic raging around the word, which let to nationwide lockdowns in many parts of the world beginning just around this year’s celebration, there were still many great submissions. Thanks to the wonderful community!

We’ll dive into the results in the same order they were presented in the original rules and guidelines post. Let’s do it!


Poppers’ Choice

Sponsored by: Old School Photo Lab

Criteria: Whatever catches’ Poppers’ eyes! It could be literally anything!

Prize: Five (5) rolls of miscellaneous expired film, plus free processing and scans for all five (5) rolls from Old School Photo Lab.

Winner: Light Trails by Tim Dobbs

Light Trails by Tim Dobbs

Lab Rats’ Choice

Sponsored by: Old School Photo Lab

Criteria: Whatever catches’ the Lab Rats’ eyes! It also could be literally anything!

Prize: Free processing and scans for one (1) roll of film from Old School Photo Lab.

Winner: Magpie Mine engine house and smokestack by N. Fishwick

Magpie Mine engine house and smokestack by N. Fishwick

Best Use of Slide Film

Sponsored by: Film Photography London

Criteria: As a die-hard fan of positive film images, Film Photography London will choose a winner for the best use of slide film, processed in E6 chemical of cross-processed. There’s no film like chrome!

Prize: A surprise box of miscellaneous 35mm and 120 roll film.

Winner: Masha in Moscow by Evgeny Sinitsyn

Sponsor’s comment: Normally slide film shots are landscapes or bright colour features. I love the fact this shot is a portrait taken using Astia film, a ‘soft’ slide film. It is very well composed at an interesting angle and the subject really stands out from the background.

Masha in Moscow by Evgeny Sinitsyn

Best Macro or Close-Up Negative Image

Sponsored by: Marcus Didius Falco

Criteria: As a lover of both macro/close-up photography and color/B&W negative film, Marcus would like to celebrate these two loves. The winner will be the best macro or close-up image using color or black-and-white negative film.

Prize: Five (5) rolls of fresh/new film — three (3) color negative and two (2) black and white. Winner may choose 35mm or 120 roll film; sponsor will choose film emulsions.

Winner: Peach Potential by Jodi Benaroch

Sponsor’s comment: I chose “Peach Potential” because it evoked feelings of joy and peacefulness in my heart and soul. On a technical level, lovely bokeh and a close up shot of blossoms.

Peach Potential by Jodi Benaroch

Best B&W Night Photo

Sponsored by: James Cockroft

Criteria: This should be simple — any photo taken at night with black-and-white film (expired, obviously) could win!

Prize: Five (5) rolls of miscellaneous black-and-white roll film (may include fresh or expired films, winner may choose 35mm or 120 formats, or a mix).

Winner: Ghost Ferry by E. Thompson

Sponsor’s comment: Between the deep blacks, crisp whites, sharpness, and long-exposure motion blur, Ghost Ferry hits all the black-and-white-at-night points, and hits all them all just right. The smooth silkiness of the water and the solidity of the ferry station play against each other beautifully, and this was an obvious choice for the Black & White Night Photo category this year. Congratulations, E. Thompson!

Ghost Ferry by E. Thompson

Best Color Photo of an Amusement

Sponsored by: James Cockroft

Criteria: Time for fun! “I’m thinking of rollercoasters,” James writes, “but it could be anything that amuses — anything that serves to enliven the mundanity of everyday life.”

Prize: Five (5) rolls of miscellaneous color negative roll film (may include fresh or expired films, winner may choose 35mm or 120 formats, or a mix).

Winner: Hammock reader by Bruno Roch Pelletier

Sponsor’s comment: Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and while I was primarily thinking of physical, wind-through-the-hair thrills, it’s clear that the reader(s) (is the other gentleman reading? or is that a phone? no matter) are pleasantly occupied, without much of a care in the world and despite the harshness of the environment. Congratulations, Bruno!

Hammock reader by Bruno Roch Pelletier

Best Man-Altered Landscape

Sponsored by: EFD Founder Daniel J. Schneider

Criteria: Hit me with your best man-altered landscape shot. This means anything that would qualify as a landscape photograph but which includes as a central, or at least important, element evidence of mankind’s relentless alteration of our environment.

Prize: A grab-bag of expired film! Will include 120 and/or 35mm roll film; no guarantees what film stocks you’ll get, but they will be old — and could number more than you think!

Winner: Portland Head Light by Michael Newman

Sponsor’s comment: The combination of a truly wonderful slow film that was too good for this world with a fairly unusual camera with good subject matter is plenty, but the extra character that the few light leaks leave in the sky in combination with truly excellent tonal range makes for an image that’s easy to lose yourself in. Works like this are what make it so clear why photographs, even in black and white, exploded into popularity so quickly.

Portland Head Light by Michael Newman

That’s it for 2020’s Expired Film Day winners. Congratulations to our 2020 winners, thank you to our wonderful sponsors and thanks so much to everyone who participated in spite of everything going on in the world.

Hopefully next year will be a safer, easier celebration of past-its-prime chemical photography. See you then!