At Last! Winners!
What the Toy Camera Contest Is
The Toy Camera Contest celebrates -- you guessed it -- Toy Cameras, the cheap and cheesy little cameras with low end specs and intriguing results. We encourage all amateur and professional photographers to enter this contest, and you may enter as often as you wish. Entries are accepted from April 24, 2006 until June 15, 2006 June 22, 2006 at midnight, Pacific Standard Time. And like any proper contest, there are rules, judges, and prizes.
The Rules
Subject Matter: The subject matter criteria for the Toy Camera Contest are the same as for any submissions to FILE magazine; if you are unfamiliar with these, refer to the Submissions page for details.
Acceptable Toy Camera Images: Only images shot with a "Toy Camera" will be considered. What is a Toy Camera? The following definition (cheerfully ganked from the Wikipedia) may help:
Toy cameras are simple, inexpensive film box cameras made almost entirely out of plastic, often including the lens. The term is misleading, since they are not 'toys' in the sense that these cameras are actually capable of taking photographs. Many were made to be given away as novelties or prizes. The Diana, an inexpensive 1960s 4x4cm novelty box camera from Hong Kong, is typically the camera most associated with the term 'toy camera'. Other cameras, such as the Lomo LC-A, Lubitel, and Holga, while originally intended as consumer, mass-market cameras, have also become identified with the term.
The list above is far from exhaustive; for example, there are also a bunch of other models whose names were pulled from a list of rejected Girl Scout Cookie names: Dories, Debonairs, Banners, Snappys, and Yunons. Whatever the camera's whismical name is, the only rule in this contest is that the images must be shot using a Toy Camera. We are working on the honor system here, folks, but if we suspect any tomfoolery, we reserve the right to ask for proof of compliance, and if not satisfied, we will disqualify an image. To check out some examples of Toy Camera photography, use the Search FILE feature (type in the keyword Toy Camera), or check out ToyCamera.com, a web site devoted to the genre.
How to Submit: Use the Submission form (select "Toy Camera" in the Project drop-down list and enter the camera type with the Title) to upload a file, or use the Feedback form to send a URL that directly links to your image(s).
~ Images are .jpg files that are less than 200k, and that they are at least 700px at their widest point.
~ Submissions have a name or pseudonym and an e-mail address.
~ Submissions include the type of camera used.
Jim Coudal
Jim Coudal is a designer and a principle in Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago.
Kevin German
Kevin German is a Sacramento, California based photojournalist specializing in documentary and editorial photography.
Marshall Sokoloff
Marshall Sokoloff is a photographer living in Toronto. His work can be seen on his web site, Blurbism.
Troy Dalton
Troy Dalton is a Northern California figurative painter who studied with Wayne Theibaud and Bob Arneson.
Sam Javanrouh
Sam Javanrouh lives in Toronto, where he works at a visual effects and animation company and runs an acclaimed photoblog.
Greg Storey
Greg Storey is a designer living in Orange County, California and who runs the amusing and occasionally cranky weblog, Airbag.
First Prize: Lensbaby Original and Lensbaby Macro Kit
One Original Lensbabies Flexible Lens Mounting System and one Lensbaby Macro Kit.
Third Prize (Option 1): Slide Show Pro
Slide Show Pro is a Flash plug-in for producing dynamic, customizable slide shows; it is used for all of FILE's Projects.
Second Prize: A 40-pack of Jewelboxing Disk packages
One 40-pack of Jewelboxing Kings. Jewelboxing is a Professional-Grade DVD and CD Packaging system.
Third Prize (Option 2): Smiley Cam
Smiley Cam is a pinhole camera that uses 110 film to shoot pictures from inside your mouth. Check out this example or go to the web site for more info.