EXPIRED FILM DAY IS MARCH 13-15, 2020!

Welcome to the fourth annual Expired Film Day!

HOW IT WORKS

This year we’re extending the shooting! Go out on Expired Film Day, Friday, March 15, 2020, or start early and use the whole weekend — March 13 and 14, 2020 — and shoot lots of expired film! With three full days of shooting, including a full weekend, you should have plenty of time to balance fun and family, obligation and jollification.

NEWS

This year’s prizes are some simple offerings from members of the #BelieveinFilm community like 2019’s, which you’ll see below. For the most part, though, Expired Film Day is a just-for-fun event. Shoot away, post away, and we’ll still set up the website so folks can submit their favorites for the world to see.

WHAT TO DO

After you use your expired film on March 13-15, 2020, and beginning the next day, March 16, 2020, submit up to three (3) images to our shared gallery for all to see. Make sure to pick your best photographs!

Each image you submit must be taken on March 13-15. Since we can’t easily verify that, you’re on your honor. If we somehow catch you cheating, though, your entry will be deleted, and you will be banned from future participation in any future awards or giveaways — and called out publicly and repeatedly, because … really?

Note: Images that have obviously been heavily post-processed will be disqualified. Removing dust and slight adjustments to exposure and color (consistent with typical darkroom processes) are fine.

Submissions will be open for an entire month — from March 16 through April 18, 2020 — so you should have plenty of time to process and scan your film.

All submissions are automatically displayed here once they have been approved.

PRIZES

This year’s prizes are sponsored by members of the online film photography community. Notice is short, but these are, if we do say so ourselves, pretty awesome. Here’s the run-down:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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).

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!

RULES AND STUFF

You don’t have to buy anything from anyone to join in the fun. In fact, you can participate with just the hashtag. You will have to submit according to the guidelines above for the contest (the prizes part).

Key dates Submission photographs must be created March 13-15, 2020, in the submitter’s local time zone. Submissions for the contest are open from midnight UTC, March 16, 2020, through midnight UTC, April 18, 2020.

Eligibility To be eligible for the contest, you must be a resident of Earth and a photographer. (You’ll also need some expired film. And a camera.) Sponsors, their families, employees or contractors, and anyone who shares an address with a sponsor is, unfortunately, prohibited from winning prizes awarded by that sponsor under U.S. laws.

Contest Judging Prize winners are selected at the sole discretion of the sponsor or their assigns, using whatever criteria they have chosen.

Notification We will try to get in touch by the contact methods (specifically, email) provided with each submission within thirty (30) days of the end of the submission period. If the entrant does not get back to us, we’ll be forced to award prizes to runners-up.

Odds and Exclusions Your individual odds of winning anything depend entirely on how many people enter. The whole shootin’ match is void where prohibited.

Shipping and Taxes Prize recipients are responsible for any and all import duties, local/gift/value-added taxes, or anything like that, beyond the base shipping cost covered by the prize sponsor.

Quick list of dates

There have been some questions about dates. Remember you must shoot your Expired Film Day photographs on March 15. Here’s a list of all the important dates with explanations:

March 13-15, 2020: EXPIRED FILM DAY(S). Make your expired film photographs!
March 16, 2020: Start of submission period.
April 18, 2020: End of submission period.
April 30, 2020: Winners announced!

Past winners and rules

See past rules, sponsors, prizes and winner announcements here.