Yes, this picture from Yoshimira's book makes sense and helps define what Mike was trying to achieve. Why was this category called "classical" and not literati or bunjin. I think much of the controversy would have been avoided had this category been properly named. The Yoshimira tree is nice, not a national winner, but at least it has some movement, some feeling, some history that moves me. The tree of Mike's lacked all of these. I stood in front of that tree for quite some time after it won this category. I was open to the possibility that I did not understand its "inner beauty" but no matter how long I stood and waited for some inspiration, the experience still remained empty. I realize that all contests have controversy but quite frankly, in my opinion, this tree was ugly. I love the bunjin style and, in fact, it is my favorite style but surely there are better examples that could have been exhibited. If this is the best bunjin the US has, give me a pretty, textbook tree anyday?
The exhibit was fabulous and seeing all of these great trees was inspirational. To have a National exhibit made me proud to be a part of our wonderful genre. However, I do have one gripe that I hope will be corrected at the next exhibit. I don't think its right that picture taking was not allowed. I would appreciate it if someone could give me the rational behind this restriction. I would have liked to revisit these fabulous specimens the next day and the next day and the next day and show them to my friends who weren't lucky enough to be physically present. Now I will have to wait until far in the future for this to happen. In the case of the ABS Saratoga Springs show, it was over a year and a half. If money was the issue, I would have been glad to pay a small fee for the right to take pictures and would have purchased the official book anyway. There is no way that my photographic skill would even be close to the professional pictures that will capture the trees. However if one of the objectives of the exhibit was learning then just a picture from one angle in a textbook is limiting. Wouldn't this objective be better achieved if I cold have used a close up lens and taken pictures of internal branching, ramifications and different angles? If it was an ergometric worry (that is aisle clogging), there could have been a time set aside for just shutterbugs to take there pictures.
My great thanks to Bill for the Herculean effort it must have taken to pull this off. It was well worth it.
Paul
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