Well, it’s that time — we’ve finally managed to choose some prize winners from among the 99 submissions we received this year!

Expired Film Day 2016 was March 15 and participants had a month to submit up to three images for award consideration. Refresh yourself on all the categories and criteria here, if you need to. The following folks have won prizes in the competition portion of the event:

Founder prizes

Three winners in three categories, with commentary by the founders:

Wackiest color shift:
“Expired Shipbuilding” by Guy Phenix

“This was the hardest category to pick something in. This film was clearly destroyed, and still managed to get a usable image. Not just one shift, not just two, but THREE.” — Marc van Ommeren

“Is it a blue shift? Is it a yellow shift? No one knows! But it really works with the composition, too. If only expired film could be predicted well enough to do this intentionally!” — Daniel J. Schneider

“It’s almost like Guy forgot to invert the negative before submitting this image (don’t worry, he did). I love the blue/yellow cast and the way each horizontal third of the frame is counterpointed by what looks like intentionally applied strobing, going left to right. I know what EliteChrome 400 is supposed to look like and this isn’t even close!” — EMULSIVE

“Like an apocalypse of color shifting from the green skies of an alien world to a white-out nuclear blast, this is how I expect the end to look. Perhaps this image is a capture of our world after a Trump White House?” — Raymond Larose

Most obviously expired film:
“Hunter Street Bridge” by Kevin Collins

“Expired in the 1940s, shot at ISO 3. Incredible. Not sure if there was something older, but Kevin got a nice image off a roll of film that I would have written off.”
— Marc van Ommeren

“With the silver halide crystals barely holding their own, light from this bridge makes its impression on a stock older than most of our parents.” — Raymond Larose

“Super grainy, check. Strange artifacts on the negative, check. Almost total lack of detail, check. Yep. This counts as most obvious expired film to me!”
— EMULSIVE

“The fact that he got anything at all is impressive. The fact that he got something this nice, doubly so!” — Daniel J. Schneider

Best use of overexposure:
“Vintage” by Maryann Doyle

“While the description reveals that this film isn’t even as old as most of us, it definitely looks like it’s been through some stuff. The extra light, though, serves to brighten the entire frame, bathing this bench in warmth and radiance.”
— Daniel J. Schneider

“Nicely controlled over-exposure, bringing out detail from the darkest shadows. Vintage yumminess.”
— Raymond Larose

“The overexposure, low contrast, film fogging and emulsion degradation all come together to produce an image that appears closer to a light ink wash, or charcoal pencil drawing. Producing unexpectedly striking images such as this is to me what shooting expired film is all about.”
— EMULSIVE

Daniel J. Schneider Photography prize

One winner, with commentary by Daniel J. Schneider:

Best day-of tweet:
“Hoping to get some cold tones in this one.” by Dustin Veitch (@FaultyFlipFlap)

“There’s no denying that this is an compelling image, and the tweet is just esoteric enough to make you think.

‘Cold tones? What cold tones? Why? Oh wait, because he’s shooting tungsten film, of course! Wow, that film is 26 or more years old. Nice leading lines with the tripod there. Wait, is that a person silhouetted in that tiny giant viewfinder? Are those stage curtains with a door in them? Wonder what that junk on the floor is…is he in an abandoned barn? I wish I had a Hasselblad. I wish I were in Saskatchewan. I wonder how many frames are left in the Speedex…’

Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought when I first saw Dustin’s tweet on March 15. (And yeah, he got the Cold Tone.)”

ShootFilmCo prizes

Three winners, with commentary by Mike Padua:

Most creative use of color:
“Pink Lifeguard Stand” by William Wetmore

“The colors in this scene are naturally vivid, but the shifts from blues to magentas in the sky and shadows made for great complementary color to the lifeguard stand in the foreground. It’s almost difficult to tell what’s shifted and what is real at a single glance, which made me want to study this picture for a minute or two. Great work!”

Most unusual composition:
“January in Helsinki” by Kristina Gushcheva

“Rule of thirds? Nah. Symmetry? Forget about it. Golden mean? Who cares? This one breaks all the rules and gives us a little mystery. Great photo!”

Best choice of subject matter in relation to the theme “expired”:
“The Shift” by Anthony Chatain

“Is it garbage? Is it a sinkhole? When you stare into the abyss, what do you see? I’m not quite sure what I’m looking at in this photo, but I everything about it makes me think and feel “expired.” Way to go!”

Old School Photo Lab prize

One winner, with commentary by Steve Frank:

Best pet photo:
“Ruffles the Cat” by Alex Corona

“It pretty much captures the essence and continuum of the constant evolution we all face from birth, whether we are a fuzzy adorable cat or a chubby soft baby. Life and its expressions are the largest and most important ingredient in expiration. Ruffles is a poster child for showing us how even memories with rough edges and inconsistencies are still precious.”

EMULSIVE prize

One winner, with commentary by EMULSIVE:

Pusherman award:
“1930’s Globe on Defender Paper” by Marcus Kreidl

“The scope of this award was to ‘multiply the number of years since the film expired by the number of stops pushed while maintaining a usable result.’

It seems that the only bright spark wanting to push expired film was yours truly. The rest of you all had the altogether much better notion of playing (mostly) within the boundaries of expired film stocks. So, bowing to the sanity of this year’s Expired Film Day entrants, and with the permission of Overlord Daniel J. Schneider, I’ve decided to make my selection for the Pusherman award based on the most audacious use of expired materials that resulted in a useable image.

‘1930’s Globe on Defender’ paper stands out amongst several submissions that fall into this new scope but blows everything else right out of the water.

The image is well-composed and has the appearance of a light study. There’s lovely grain, wonderful contrast, and it’s still possible to make out fine detail on the globe’s surface. The halo/ghosting effects in the final image make me feel like I’m stepping back in time to a scene shot 100 years ago, not captured over the past few weeks.

Marcus’ use of 50-plus-year-old film and 85-year-old paper really stands out for me as a striking example of the flexibility and resilience of traditional analog photography. Try doing that with a 20-year-old memory card!”

Let’s Explore Magazine prize

One winner, with commentary by Kilian Idsinga:

Most brutal lines:
“Never Waste a Frame” by Thomas Way

“I’m a sucker for architecture; the way these two buildings are in contrast with the background, and how all the different lines of the buildings are also contrasting between the two buildings, is right up my alley. But the real kicker in this image is how the unintentional lines caused by the ‘extra frame’ are actually framing the architectural scene, and to top it of have their own ‘game’ going with the top of the wall.”

The Impossible Project prizes

Three winners, with commentary by Amy Heaton:

Light plays a vital role:
“My Four Leafs” by Jerry “PhotoJeeper” Hutchins

“The way the light catches the leaves featured in this image by Jerry fits perfectly to our brief, and you can almost smell the soft evening sun as you look at this image — it demonstrates the transportive nature of expired film.”

Light plays a vital role:
“Serendipity2” by Mark Gauci

“The dedication and precision required for Mark to paint with light so accurately in this image surely deserves more than any prize we can offer — fantastic work!”

Light plays a vital role:
“In Common” by Daniela Gruenwald

“These Time-Zero flashes are by far one of the most distinctive elements of expired Polaroid film — they still catch our attention whenever we see them — and Daniela’s choice of subject adds even more atmosphere to the final image.”

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That’s the whole list, and the biggest common thread in our discussions about them was how difficult it was to choose between them all. The easiest thing to agree on was how great they all were. Our announcement was several days later than we anticipated, and we apologize for the delay, which was entirely my fault.

Congratulations to all our winners, and we look forward to seeing the pool next year!