RE: Material for website

["James Purchase" <jppurchase@rogers.com>]

Erik

"I forget if I've voiced my concerns on this already, but I don't really
like the extra categories.  Pond seems like dilution, because it's
landscaping, not aquascaping, and Illustrations don't really seem to fit
in the idea of aquascaping at all.  They both seem to be added strictly
for the purpose of getting pictures for TAG.  All the other categories fit
quite nicely with our idea of comparison of aquascaping techniques.  These
two just don't sit well with me.  Anyway, just my opinion."

No, you hadn't voiced your concern on this before - and I do remember that I
asked for input and feedback on BOTH suggestions a while ago. I got only
positive feedback on the Botanical Illustration idea and yes, it WAS my idea
that it might provide some useful material for TAG. I understand that it is
not related to "aquascaping".

I'm pretty sure that there are a LOT of hobbyists who maintain garden
ponds - they seems to surface every once and a while on the APD. Aquascaping
is merely landscaping under water - go read some of Roger Miller's posts on
aquascaping and you will see that he draws a lot of inspiration from
landscapes and so does Amano. The Dutch approach of designing a tank reminds
me very much of how a perennial border is laid out in a garden. There are
probably many folks who might be able to subit stunning pictures of their
ponds but who would never dream of submitting a picture of their algae
infested aquarium.

Accepting a photo of a single waterlily is, I'll admit, stretching things
into the relm of "photo contest" but lets get real here - last year there
were fewer entries than we got the first year. This is too much work for
around 60 entries. My aim is to get more people involved in this - there
isn't any more work involved for us if there are 10 entries or 100 entries,
but the interest level in the whole thing will probably increase if we can
get more people to actually submit _something_.

I almost cringe when someone brings up "aquascaping" on the APD, because I
know 2 things are going to happen - someone is going to mention "art" and
that's going to freak out a lot of people, then someone else is going to
mention "Amano" and that is going to intimidate most of the rest. People
seem to have the impression that their stuff isn't good enough to submit.
Participation is more important that walking away with a ribbon, and I'm
trying to increase the avenues for people to participate in this.

Maybe I'm trying to sneak things into people's minds thru the back door, but
it ALL comes down to sharing what we love about this hobby with others. What
I like might not be what you like, and what someone else likes might not be
what either of us likes. But I think that we all might benefit from seeing,
and sharing, what we individually find fascinating with others. That's why I
started this in the first place and that's the ONLY reason I am interested
in seeing it continue.

If we DON'T get any entries in either of the new categories, they can be
quietly dropped. But I think that we might uncover some interesting things
and encourage a wider range of participation. If, as a side benefit, we can
get some "filler material" that Karen can use for TAG in the way of drawings
or "pretty pictures", that is a plus that in no way hurts our desire to
improve the general practice of aquascaping aquariums.

Go back to the main AGA website and review the purposes and goals of the
organization - nothing there precludes us widening the focus of the
Aquascaping Contest and if we can encourage participation from more AGA
members, everyone will benefit. I remember something Olga Betts once told me
about Steve Pushak's aquariums - she said that they looked like "plants
underwater". I think that there are probably MANY people who that could be
said of. Those people are hardly likely to submit an entry to an
"aquascaping" contest but they _might_ just be able to submit something into
another category in a more inclusive event.

James

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