Last week, Sony unveiled their new campaign, entitled “Be Alpha”. For the uninitiated, the term “Alpha”  is a brand holdover from the legacy Minolta days and their line of ground breaking Alpha SLR cameras. When Sony purchased the Konica Minolta camera business in the mid 2000s, the Alpha product name came along for the ride.

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But in today’s world, Alpha isn’t intended to be a strict interpretation of the Greek Alphabet – to mean first, although it certainly is a nice fit for the company, as they recently announced their #1 position in full frame camera sales for 2018, year-to-date. Instead, I believe “Be Alpha” is a catch-all for inclusion, community, support and of course, excellence.

I know this all sounds a bit mushy, but I’ve enjoyed a behind the scenes seat at the table for several years now as a Sony Artisan of Imagery and I can attest to the passion of everyone involved in the brand – my fellow Artisans and Collective members, the engineers in Tokyo and the team that is working tirelessly to build this new community.

And something big is happening.

Growth in the brand is off the charts, while the old guard stands stagnant. Of course competition is coming but we are reaching a point now where photography is more than just the gear – it’s the experience, often communal in this social media age, that excites the creative in us. These communities are enabling more and more people to enter and thrive in the creative spaces that were once restricted to the well healed and formally educated.

Sony is leading this charge, with both their technical innovation and their embrace of the community. With that powerful combination, I believe they are welcoming all to “Be Alpha”.

This past weekend, Sony held their first of several planned events to celebrate the Be Alpha campaign. Located at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY – guests were invited to try out the latest Sony cameras and lenses alongside Artisan and Collective members, highly produced model sets, photo walks, a keynote by legendary photographer Mark Seliger, and a sunset cruise around Lady Liberty. The next event is coming up soon in San Francisco – check http://www.alphauniverse.com for details – with more cities to follow.

If you ever have any questions regarding the Sony universe of imaging products, please leave a comment here or email me directly via contact in my bio. And I hope to see some of you in-person soon at a future Be Alpha event. I’ll leave you with some more images from the day…