Comments on: AGA 2008: Takashi Amano: ADA Tank Critique

By: wordkid

wordkid — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:43:23 +0000

Great site and post… I just discovered “aquascaping” today, but the interplay between good photography (rule of thirds, etc.) and the “aquascape” art form is really pretty neat.

A lot of the comments he had for the various “aquascapes” I agree with from a photographic perspective. Especially in terms of lining up shots and perspectives

By: guitarfish

guitarfish — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:39:07 +0000

See Us Flying, I agree with you that aquascaping is an art, and that rules will only get the scaper so far. I also agree that it’s good to break the rules. That said, if you look at most appealing scapes, you will find that the ratio contained within them are consistent with various ratios. They may not be 1/3 to 2/3, but 5 and 7 or 4 and 1, or various other proportions. I still thinks it’s helpful to beginners to point out a few obvious mistakes to help them on their way. After that, it’s up to their creativity to take over.

By: sEE uS flyING

sEE uS flyING — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:45:57 +0000

Aquascaping is art and while there are obvious mistakes one can make (overdoing the hardscape, overstocking with plants etc) I belive that there is no hard and fast handbook of rules (chisled in stone…or driftwood ) that can be applied, no golden ratio or rule of thirds will create a scape that speaks to the spirit of the viewer. Art is the expression of the cumulative experience of the artist and cannot be quantified by neat little laws. I salute Mr. Amano for his contribution to the hobby (and for introducing us to those glorious shrimp), but if we all applied ratios and rules then all our scapes would look quite similar which is the exact opposite of what we should strive to acheive…individual expression. Besides not all of Amano’s scapes have spoken to me.

By: Monkeys typing Shakespeare

Monkeys typing Shakespeare — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:44:37 +0000

[...] searching the net to find a site to buy a mini M and I found this, if you are looking for a scape. http://www.guitarfish.org/2008/11/18…-tank-critique And something i think would be cool to stock such a big aquarium with would be a school of SAE’s, [...]

By: Mallory

Mallory — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:16:02 +0000

Hmm… I guess you can’t agree with anyone 100% of the time, but I consider myself a huge fan of his work and NA. I agree that he’s not the end all, be all, but I also think that sometimes fans of ADA and NA are misunderstood. We are not all doe-eyed groupies.

By: AGA 2008: Takashi Amano: His Tanks-- Guitarfish

AGA 2008: Takashi Amano: His Tanks-- Guitarfish — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:54:58 +0000

[...] critiquing the ADA entrant tanks during his presentation at the 2008 Aquatic Gardener’s Association Convention, Takashi Amano proceeded to discuss [...]

By: guitarfish

guitarfish — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:02:21 +0000

I was hoping that this post would garner from debate. I’m of the same opinion as you guys that he’s a great talent and pioneer, of who’s opinion I often agree with, but don’t necessarily agree with 100% of the time. In his talk, he also did mention that fact, and mentioned the influence that culture plays in determining the beauty of a tank. For this reason, he tries to employ other judges from around the world with equal weight, to judge all of the ADA entries. I believe he mentioned that his top choice is not always the winner of the competition for this reason. That was certainly the case in the AGA contest this year.

By: Mark F.

Mark F. — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:54:41 +0000

Wow – you’re whipping out these dispatches from the AGA conference so quickly, it’s hard to keep up: no sooner had I sent in my response to the last post (the talk on mosses), then you posted this!

I kind of agree with Phillip: I find myself seeing Mr. Amano’s point here about 80 percent of the time – and I strongly disagree with the other 20 percent. His personal vision, discipline, attention to detail, and dedication to his craft have all rightly earned him the respect of a true pioneer in his field – all that said, however, his opinions on matters of composition sometimes seem to lack the authority of a formal visual arts training (admitedly, I don’t know if he actually has any formal visual arts training or not; obviously, that’s not necessary to have a “good eye”).
I guess my point here is, yeah, the guy’s great at what he does, and definitely earns the respect of the hobby, but some of the adoration goes a bit over board: he’s not the last word in aquascaping – nobody is. Sorry to use your blog to vent all that, but I don’t yet have a blog of my own, and felt that opinion had to be voiced somewhere!

I’ve got so much more I could say here – not so much about Mr. Amano specifically, but about where the hobby as a whole is going with his inspiration … but this is your blog, not mine! Keep up the good work, dude.

By: Mallory

Mallory — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:53:37 +0000

I was very disappointed that I couldn’t hear Amano speak, so thanks SO MUCH for sharing! He has an amazing eye.

By: Phillip Brown

Phillip Brown — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:29:06 +0000

I don’t personally agree with all his comments but this is fascinating, as are all these reports – many, many thanks for doing them.