The theme for the Fujifilm Student Awards 2011 is ‘Senses’. Senses: Any of the five physical processes by which stimuli are received – Sight – Hearing – Smell – Taste – Touch. The brief is to capture what Senses means to you, how do you see things? what alters your perception?

Although photography is obviously a visual medium don’t forget the other senses, how does smell feel? what does noise look like?

This year we move away from the ‘book ‘cover’ theme towards a stand-alone image that covers the brief of ‘Senses’. You may decide to shoot a series of images, but the judges will be looking for a single image as the winner. Please feel free to submit your series as single images. There is no limit to the number of entries you can send in.

The judges often look for images that stand out from the crowd and really push the creative boundaries. Copy-cat and look-alike shots from previous years or other competitions are not usually given high marks.

Take the brief as wide as you like but try to show the benefits of shooting on film, rather than digital. The Fujifilm Student Awards aim to showcase silver halide film at its finest.

Shooting on film encourages a ‘quality not quantity’ mind set. Aim to get everything right before pressing the shutter; to achieve the perfect image that doesn’t require post production.

Experiment too with different emulsions… traditional black and white, black & white CN (C41 process), colour negative and colour transparency. The slower speed of Velvia 50, for example, will provide exceptionally sharp and punchy images capable of great enlargement, whereas high speed emulsions will give a nice grain that can be exploited for effect. Cross and Push processing E6 film is also another great way to achieve something different.