Top 200 IAPLC - Page 2 - Aquascaping

fishlover · 07-14-2012, 08:32 AM

WOW! Number 184 is actually pretty cool, though filled with algae. The fish population is also quite original

niko · 07-14-2012, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishlover

WOW! Number 184 is actually pretty cool, though filled with algae. The fish population is also quite original

Number 184 is one of the few truly beautiful aquascapes in that otherwise flawed commercial contest. Look at the impression that tank #184 leaves you with. It gives you the feeling of deep natural freshwaters.

This is a 1-1/2 foot deep tank (45 cm.) and it creates a double perspective illusion unlike any other tank. If other tanks try to fool you how deep they are front to back only this tank fools you how deep it is top to bottom AND it has a perspective front to back. Look at a fine detail - there are 3 layers in this tank -plants on top, algae when you look deeper, and the deepest areas where the light doesn't reach nothing grows. Just like Nature.

The fish choice is very precise. The high fin barbs are quite sedentary and hang close to the bottom. There are fish that hang in the middle and the fish on the top will stay always on the top and are quite active. Note that there is a contrast between fast, elongated, small fish that like to stay close to the surface, then slower and larger a little taller fish in the middle, and finally tall, very slow larger fish that like to hang close the bottom. The 3 kinds of fish are not clashing colors - only the middle fish is striking right away.

Also there is something else interesting about this tank: It is not easy to intentionaly grow Cladophora and aquatic plants at the same time because of the contradicting requirements of the two.

niko · 07-14-2012, 03:16 PM

Look at tank #48. There are a ton of perspective tricks in this layout.

The 3 stones in the front are lined up in one line. Believe it or not the larger stone on the right is not a little to the front.

The 3 moss covered branches at the back and to the right of the center of the tank use the same trick - they are much closer to each other than they appear. The smallest and middle sized stick are also placed on one line along the back glass of the tank. But they fool you into thinking they are not on one line.

All the moss branches in the tank are arranged in such a way and are exactly as tall is it is needed to create numerous perpective lines that start from the back and open up to the sides as they go forward. The lines also "open up" from the back toward the front going down.

Also note a very fine and interesting detail - the smallest branch in the middle is intentionally left looking somewhat undeveloped. Compare it with all the other branches that are covered with thick moss. This serves a particular visual purpose - small things appaer naturally either defective or still in development. This small branch has a very important role: In all aquascapes the right side is what really makes or breaks the impression. Use your hand to cover the entire left side of tank #48 and see if the right side seems to be excellent by itself. It is but only if the smallest "ugly" branch is visible. Hide it with your hand and the entire right side looses it's balanced beauty.

Travis.808 · 07-15-2012, 01:55 AM

#167 = mind blown!

Bett '@ Djax · 07-19-2012, 02:45 AM

hi,

167 is a fake photography !!!

2011 remember you ???!!!

before (original) 1600x660 px :

after (Winner) 1600x400 px :

no comment ...

JapanBlue · 07-20-2012, 06:42 AM

Hello,

why do you think it is fake????

Do you have any prove of that?
And I cant see your pictures!

Silvering · 07-20-2012, 07:06 AM

Is it just me being a philistine, or are all these tanks endless repetitions of the same two or three ideas? After looking at all 200 of them, I'm left with a very definite "paint by numbers" feeling. Not that they aren't beautiful! (And I definitely couldn't do that myself, either!)

I liked #18 (although I don't like the angle that big rock is sitting at), and #41 seems really well executed. I liked the trees in #159 too.

niko · 07-20-2012, 10:15 AM

Most of the tanks in the Japanese contest are a repetition of something already done. Amano has perfected the details of these layouts over the years because he has the resources. In certain cultures emulating the master is to the "T" is the only way. That is why you see a lot of these tanks looking like something you saw 10 years ago. All these lame facts lead to the interest in tank #167.

Tank #167 broke the rules and that is why it stands out. A bunch of rocks strung on some kind of support is an idea that has nothing to do with a natural aquarium (even in the elitist terms that ADA's Nature Aquarium is being sold to us). You can build such a visually striking "sculpture" in your back yard using rocks and rebar. But when you place it in an aquarium then you can really see how little taste you have. An alternative to submerging it in an aquarium would be to attach it to air balloons so it floats suspended in air. Why not? Lack of taste has no boundaries and respects no norms. This submerged structure is guaranteed to cause a lot of discussion because it stands out on the background of 99% of the not-so-new aquasacping layouts. The fake white sand "passages", the photo-backgrounds, the "tiny landscape", and of course the rocks suspended mid-water on a fishing line can't even get close to that level of tastelessness.

For next year's contest I may present a full blown underwater representation of our Solar system. With every planet being a round rock suspended in mid-water and covered with specific color plants. The Sun will be only firery red and yellow plants. Pretty cool idea, don't you think? Can't get more natural than that. The Solar System in an aquarium, oh my! Imagine them shrimp flying between the planets and landing on them and so on. And if I figure a way to make all the planets rotate around the sun and around each other I will become the king of tastless forever.

That Solar system idea leaves you with a bad taste doesn't it? Please look at tank #167 again. What do you think now?

Two conclusions from this year's Japanese contest:

1. Try to learn more about art painting and sculpture or you will be stuck with what "the master" tells you is good.
2. Try to see how you can break the rules but without being tasteless.

None of the above 2 will get you high up in the Japanese contest. Certainly you will not be the winner. There are many reasons why and one of them is that the contest has one ultimate goal - commercial success for the organizer. If someone believes the contest is about liberally spreading beauty around the world I have nothing to say.

Michael · 07-20-2012, 01:53 PM

The Japanese love rules and aesthetic formulas. Close imitation of the "master" is highly valued. You can see the same thing in Japanese on-line bonsai contests. Every black pine looks just like all the other black pines, until you cannot understand how one is rated more highly than another.

Don't get me wrong, they are all very beautiful black pines! But they do not show the individuality that we in the West expect from art. That type of individuality is only tolerated from an acknowledged master.

This Japanese tradition produces bonsai artists (and aquascapers) that have exceptional discipline, attention to detail, and technical proficiency. But to Western eyes, they look like "endless repetitions of the same two or three ideas". It is a cultural difference that you must become acustomed to.

I think this is why we feel that almost all the tanks are lovely, but few truly stand out, or greatly move us.

BTW, there is a strong tradition in Japanese and Chinese "tray landscapes" (including bonsai) of adding tiny realistic sculptures of people, animals, buildings, boats, etc. These are usually called "mud figures" in English for some reason. I'll never forget the time that I was exhibiting a penjing (tray landscape) in a bonsai show, and the organizer came along behind me and put little mud figures of ancient wise men in my penjing! I hate those things with a passion, and told her to take them out. They strike me the same way that the photo backgrounds of some of these aquaria do--a cheesy trick that cheapens the composition. But they are considered prefectly appropriate additions to otherwise brilliant bonsai in Japan.

Silvering · 07-20-2012, 04:26 PM

Thanks for the cultural info! That does make sense. I'm guessing the 200 have not been ranked by points (or however they rank things) yet. I do like seeing aquascapes ranked in order of merit, one of my pet disappointments with the AGA contest. How is anyone supposed to develop their eye if the experts refuse to rank entries properly?

I do enjoy viewing such photo contests, repetitive though they may be - I feel like I'm barely beginning to grasp how difficult an artistic medium aquascaping is! And I'm not even really trying to do it myself - my tanks are definitely more about the fish than the plants. It was interesting to see the difference that lighting and camera settings make - some of those entries looked sepia-shifted, some were underlit, some overexposed. I wish I knew how to photograph my tanks as expertly as most entries were photographed!

And while I normally agree with the tackiness of photo backgrounds, I think #177 really pulled it off. I don't know that I've seen an aquascape so perfectly matched to a background before, so that it's truly an integrated piece of art!