Mayland and Bork photos

[Dave Mosley <dxm1@calweb.com>]

about a week ago, i sent an email to aqualog regarding the photos in the
mayland and bork book. i summarized my feelings (disappointed) and
included some filtered (i.e. no names, addresses) comments from the list
to give them an idea of what american apistophiles were saying.

the dialog with aqualog follows:

Franz Mollekopf wrote:

> Dear Dave,
> =

> Thank you very much for your e-mail and your comments on the dwarf cich=
lid book.
> =

> It was very interesting for us to read your comments. Bellow please fin=
d some remarks from us:
> =

> For future correspondence you can reach us by e-mail with the following=
 address: acs@aqualog.de
> =

> We, the publishing company A.C.S. GmbH, produce the AQUALOG - series an=
d just to clarify the South American Dwarf
> Cichlid book was originally published in German language by "Landbuch V=
erlag". The authors, Hans Mayland and Dieter
> Bork are well known to us and we are in close contact .When we have see=
n the book the first time, we have had exactly
> the same opinion - good content, but the photos are too colourful.  How=
ever we thought it's worth to have a English
> version. We set up a contract with Landbuch Verlag and they printed a E=
nglish edition for which we have the
> world-wide distribution rights.
> It's important to know, that we from A.C.S. are very strict in term of =
colours on ornamental fish. We claim to have
> the only complete and up-to-date reference work. As a publisher of a re=
ference work it's strictly forbidden to
> manipulate the photos especially the colours. Since we know the two aut=
hors quite a long time, we know that they
> apply the same rule. Hans Mayland has written more than fifty books alr=
eady and he sold more than one million copies
> of those. At the other hand, Dieter Bork is one of the best aquaristic =
photographer and he provides continuously
> photos for AQUALOG books. We have forwarded your comments to them and t=
hey came up with the following remarks:
> =

> The authors Mayland and Bork thanks the American friends of dwarf chich=
lids for their comments and the objective
> criticism. =

> Both are enthusiastic hobbyists and breeder of dwarf cichlids for many =
years. Therefore they have set themselves very
> high quality targets for this book, especially for the photographs.
> All slides were made by using a Nikon F4 equipped with Micro Nikor 105 =
objective and flash Nikon FB 24.
> All chosen dwarf cichlids are wildcaught and imported by our sister com=
pany Aquarium Glaser, Europe's biggest in- and
> exporter on ornamental fishes. Before the photos were taken, all fishes=
 were prepared over several weeks. In order to
> have optimum conditions 25 tanks has been used. The water parameters:
> Conductivity : 150...200 =B5S and pH 6,5...6,8. The temperature was kep=
t constant on 27=B0 Centigrade. During the entire
> time of preparation only live food has been used to support the natural=
 colours. When photos were taken from male
> fishes, the sate of arousal was privileged. =

> According to Landbuch Verlag "Germanys best Lithographer" was used. He =
isn't a aquarist, that means a planned
> manipulation of colours was impossible and not the intention of the aut=
hors at all! =

> For your reference we have prepared 6 original slides were you can see =
that the fishes really have these colours.
> Moreover
> some of the pictures in the book have lost brilliancy compared to the o=
riginal slides during scanning and picture
> processing.
> Please provide us with your postal address. We will ship the slides imm=
ediately. You can keep the slides and you can
> use them internally ( cichlid bulletin, etc.), but no commercial use pl=
ease.
> Please excuse if my English is incorrect..
> =

> Looking forward to hearing from you.

Dave Mosley wrote:

> =

> thanks, franz, for your reply. your english is about 200 times better
> than my german, believe me.
> =

> since this is a rather hot topic on the apisto mailing list, i'd like
> your permission to post your reply to that list. i believe they would
> all be interested in hearing the publisher's (and author's) point of
> view. most list members are ardent apisto hobbyists, with a few pro
> breeders thrown in. as you can tell from the discussion i forwarded you=
,
> the general consensus is 'doctored photos'. if this indeed not the
> case,  then some of the more dissatisfied people need to know.
> =

> as for the slides, they would be most helpful, as they represent the ra=
w
> data before "Germanys best Lithographer" saw them. this is a most
> gracious offer. perhaps, also with your permission (and if i/you were t=
o
> add the appropriate copyright information on the images), they could be=

> placed on the web for the doubters to scrutinize. just a thought.

Franz Mollekopf wrote:

> Hi Dave,
> Thank you very much for your quick reply. Yes, it's a good idea to put =
the comments on the apisto mailing list. Would
> you please be so kind and transform it in a "good English" first? At le=
ast correct the big bugs.
> Regarding the slides, the photographer Dieter Bork, agrees to your prop=
osal, as long as there is no commercial use.
> If you put them on the web, just mention the copyrights. If you put the=
m into a "electronic format" they will believe
> that there was no treatment by using PhotoShop etc. In order to mail th=
e slides I just need a postal address. I'm
> also interested to know your website address. I'm happy that we can cla=
rify the problem. Thank you for co-operation.
> =

> Kind regards
> =

> Verlag A.C.S. GmbH
> =

> Franz =


i obviously did not "transform" the replies before posting, as i don't
feel this would be right. just as i did not "transform" the quotes from
the list (except to remove the names and email addresses). now, as i
haven't heard much about this lately, i'm not sure how 'hot' an issue it
really is. if anyone has the faciliies to digitize and post the slides,
i'll be happy to have them sent.