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The Sony DI Challenge II: I'm In It



Last year, Sony MEA (Middle East and Africa) came up with a challenge for aspiring photographers both in professional and amateur category to showcase their ability and creativity by using the latest photographic equipment of Sony. A selection was made to draw out the 10 best participants, 5 for each category among thousands of hopefuls which entered the challenge. The selected amateur participants will receive the NEX-7 while the Pros received the new Sony Alpha A77 to be used during the competition.





The first season went smoothly, and luckily, two (2) Filipinos dominated the competition, both winning a spot in the amateur and pro category. It was a  huge success for Sony where it got the attention of the whole gulf region to cast their votes to the deserving winner. Many have asked, including myself,  if there will be a continuation of this challenge next year?

And the answer was received last July through email.

Yes, There is! There's a 2nd part to this challenge :)

It was early July this year, when I saw that Sony DI Challenge has been calling again aspirants to join their second season. At first I was hesitant to fill up an entry because I am not a user of their imaging product, until I had a discussion with one of my flat mates, who is an avid Sony user. I told her that they are now accepting entries for the second challenge and why not try her luck and maybe she will be selected. We ended up our small chat by agreeing that we will both submit an entry just to try it out, see our chances against other people.

So i filled up an entry on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/SonyMEA) under the amateur category and crossed my fingers that the entries I've submitted, which are all in glamour photos make it through. A week has passed and good news came in my inbox, I made the cut for the top 10 finalist and an interview will be held to trim us down to the 5 finalists.

The interview was scheduled the following week at an office in Dubai Media City. I tagged along a friend of mine to accompany me on my interview day. I felt a little bit of jitters on what will be the interview process and wondering if I can please them with my answer. The interview was a breeze. Some questions were technical and I was also asked questions like what type of photography I am currently doing. A brief orientation was also conducted to explain what the Sony DI Challenge is about.  They mentioned that they are searching for individuals who has creativity and uniqueness in the field of photography. I honestly hoped I had those in myself and I think that's the challenge I have to go through (Grin *). At the end of interview, I (was told  to wait for another e-mail to confirm if I made it to the selection of the top 5.

Finally!

After a week of waiting...I'm officially in! I feel indeed lucky to be included in the top 5 finalist for the Sony DI Challenge. I can still remember the competition last year which I voted for a common friend's entry; which I told myself that I would also like to try the challenge as well. It surely is an overwhelming experience to be part of this competition and having outlasted thousands of others bidding out for the position that I am in right now. I'm all hyped up on the challenges that we are to do and I sure will give  my best!

My apologies for the delay in writing about my experience. Well, I've been a little busy preparing for the challenges, that I only remembered I had to share this wonderful experience with you!



'til the next post!


The Hot Shoe Anthologist



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