Bonsai Today Magazine - looking for editors

pootsie

I have to say I also do not believe the quality has gone down
(except for that badly-written review of the pine book )

They have worked very hard to get American/Western authors and artists to contribute material. And they've had quite a bit of it. There have been some hiccups in transition, I believe, but it is still well worth the $$$ without doubt. To me, anyhoo, since my mom got me the subscription

But I'd pay if'n I had to!

pootsie

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malhomme

What I am aware of is this: while my zeal for bonsai has increased over the years, my zeal for BT has decreased. The articles of the post-Palmer era do not have the level of technical depth as before. I could work on an old BT for a week. Now, an issue last me a couple of hours and leaves me wondering why there is more content yet it feels like SO MUCH LESS.

If it was up to the standard of the old days, Wayne wouldn't have to pump-up how more pages of content have been added. No doubt he realizes that the change in format will have critics. Too bad.

The translations, image layouts, photographic quality have all improved under Wayne. But I can't help feeling like the magazine is becoming a catalog that I have subscribed to.

Kind regards,
Jim

FlyBri

Interesting...

Does this mean that one such as myself - one who has demonstrated little or no practical knowledge of Bonsai - might be up for the job? If they're after pretty words that come without the burden of experience then I might just have a chance!

Bzzzzzzzzzt.

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Attila

I agree that the the articles used to be more technical in the past. But I am not sure whether that was a good thing. It's a matter of personal preference.

I don't have much patience for overly technical, step-by-step articles page after page after page. Watching how to bend a branch over 2 pages of 20 photographic sequences are rather exhausting than instructive, at least for me. No wonder it took a week to finish reading it. I would just skip half of the pictures and cut to the chase.

There is only so many ways of wiring, bending, and pruning a branch. After seing it once, the same technique is applied over and over again on different trees. Same with rootpruning. Reading about it once every two years is enough for me.

But the diversity of outcome is different every time. Seing the big picture, instead of all the minutiae, can get me excited every time.

Attila

...still chuckling.

Well, I don't know about you, but I can tell pretty fast if someone smooth-talks me without actually understanding what he is talking about. If not after the first sentence, but soon after that, a knowledgeable reader will be able to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

In the case of this contest, it is the jury's job (Wayne, that is) to recognize that.

(but I am sure it is possible to fool people once in a while)

Attila

Brian raises an important point though,

The importance of understanding the article before trying to improve it.

When describing a bonsai technique, one has to visualize it. Without it, there is a great danger of miscommunication, and it will happen inevitably. Not only that, but the editor has to be skillful enough, so that the reader can visualize the act. We are talking about describing complex processes here. Sometimes it is hard enough to communicate with your wife about what's for dinner, without being misunderstood. Never mind bonsai techniques.

Another point is, that every technique has essential aspects, and also parts that are less important, or optional. If the editor doesn't truly understand it, his writing will place equal emphasis on every little detail. And this would be a mistake. The reader needs to distinguish the essential from optional, otherwise he won't be able to learn it correctly.

This is all part of the editing process..

Vance Wood

The thing I find encouraging here is the attempt to acquire editors that are also bonsai savvy, that know bonsai and grow bonsai. I have for a long time complained that many articles published as translations of non English sources tend to be ambiguous and in some cases contradictory. The difference between buds, shoot, and candles are prime examples. In many translations these elements are often designated as the same thing. In the authors mind they may represent the three states of existence of the same thing but in the mind of those of us in the West they are three different and distinct items. For someone just getting into the world of Pine bonsai this can be a tremendous hurdle to get over.

So for what its worth my hat is off to Wayne for looking to his base for a resource he needs to improve his magazine. Certainly you can find room to complain about some aspects of the magazine, but think of where the bonsai world would be without it? There are few outlets for any one but the World class artists, now there is a possibility for us Schmucks to make a contribution from the middle of the road.

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HB Smith

Hi Attila,

My personal preference is the opposite. I love studying how the professionals performed a certain technique, and that is the primary reason I subscribe to any magazine, whether its kinbon, BT or IB. Sure it's fun to see the before and afters, but to me this is secondary. So for my purposes the BT content has declined. It is a prettier read though.

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bonsaial1

I was wondering why this had to even be mentioned. Is the forum supposed to wowwed that Will had something to do with this contest? Oh and thanks for adding the "everyone is welcome to participate". I feel much better with that added. Is top hat and tails the appropriate dress while editing a paragraph? I want to be sure and dress like an elitist.



There were plenty of people pushing art in bonsai years before Will came here. In fact a trip down memory lane will reveal that some of Will's first posts had to do with the price of pots being too expensive. This as recently as the fig he planted in the Tokonome pot it may still reside in. Less than two years ago. Placing Will with Andy Rutledge is the same sentance is a stretch.
Someone has to show me his art before he can talk about art.

While I can appreciate and do occasionaly talk about artictic concepts in bonsai, they can never be actually seperated from the horticultural aspect of the craft. Trying to convey artistic concepts on any tree while not taking horticultural aspects into account is like trying to improve a tree in the "tree of the Day". What may look good on paper does not always work with our trees.



I was very surprised to read this. While there are many here that probably feel this same way, there is much more to it than that. Spend a day with Kenji Miyata repotting a dozen mixed trees. He will show you dozen ways to repot them. Spend another day pinching and pruning a dozen mixed trees and he will show you two dozen ways to do your task. If any one is caught into a rut that repotting bonsai is pull-cut-replant, pull-cut-replant, find another magazine to read cause you have been lulled into a false sense of security. Whats good on one tree this year will not be the same on that same tree next year. I am sure John at Vonsgarden learned many things from Marco during his week with him. Probably many things he had not even thought about.

Pick up six issues of Bonsai Europe and compare those with the same issues of Bonsai Today. The difference will blow your mind. In fact I don't remember bonsai Europe running a subscription add in Bonsai Today, but I did notice that Bonsai Today is running a full page subscription add in the last issue of Bonsai Europe. Sounds like a conflict of interest to me and was surprised that the add ran. If I wanted to boost readership I guess thats where I would place my advertising dollars. In the competitions magazine!

hmmmm, I wonder if Lowe's would think of running an add in the middle of a Home Depot add

Regards, Al

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