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THE INTERNATIONAL AQUATIC PLANTS LAYOUT CONTEST - The World's Largest Nature Aquarium and Aquatic Plants Layout Contest
The World's Largest Nature Aquarium and Aquatic Plants Layout Contest
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Aquascaping Contest Scandal
- Thread starter glasscanvasart
- Start date
1
14548
Guest
Still...Photoshop guys isn’t disqualified. Iaplc continue to promote their contest by disqualifying you if you join any other ‘non approved’ contests. They insist on that point instead of taking good measure to avoid future cheaters and disqualify the 2019 ones...
...business after all, very sad. Not sure I I’ll join again.
...business after all, very sad. Not sure I I’ll join again.
glasscanvasart
Member
I read the article feeling quite hopeful that the cheating would be acknowledged and acted on, but it’s really disappointing that there has been no disqualification or acknowledgement of the specific high profile incident. Maybe the article is a primer and we’ll see some action soon, but we’ve waited a long long time. Like CookieS I am not going to enter next year until the cheating is acknowledged and acted upon.
G
Guest
Guest
I'm beginning to strongly doubt anything will be done about it. ADA is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't. It's a potential house of cards and the start of a very slippery slope. The incident has highlighted a fundamental flaw in the competition. But I guess the IAPLC thinks it's done enough to draw a line under the incident by posting the article. Perhaps it hopes the incident will just go away now.
And perhaps logic would dictate that if they disqualify Alberto they'd have to scrutinise all previous Grand Prize Works, and that could end very badly. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe they've already found far too many anomalies. That would be a brown trouser moment for any company especially one such as ADA, which espouses such a noble philosophy within a culture where the pursuit of moral principles is paramount
Maybe trying to ignore the incident is ADA's best shot at damage limitation. To do anything else might risk bringing the whole show crashing down. But if scapers like you @glasscanvasart and Thierry @CooKieS refuse to enter it means the incident has already brought the competition, and by dint ADA, in to disrepute.
But if ADA do brush the incident under the carpet it effectively exposes its ethos as nothing more than the empty virtue signalling Steven Chong mentioned in an earlier post. Effectively exposing it for exactly what it ultimately is... the conspicuous and disingenuous expression of moral values with the intent to enhance its own image. Either way, not so good for ADA's brand positioning, nor for commanding a progressive or conservative fandom.
The jury is still out and so am I; out of clichés...
And perhaps logic would dictate that if they disqualify Alberto they'd have to scrutinise all previous Grand Prize Works, and that could end very badly. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe they've already found far too many anomalies. That would be a brown trouser moment for any company especially one such as ADA, which espouses such a noble philosophy within a culture where the pursuit of moral principles is paramount
Maybe trying to ignore the incident is ADA's best shot at damage limitation. To do anything else might risk bringing the whole show crashing down. But if scapers like you @glasscanvasart and Thierry @CooKieS refuse to enter it means the incident has already brought the competition, and by dint ADA, in to disrepute.
But if ADA do brush the incident under the carpet it effectively exposes its ethos as nothing more than the empty virtue signalling Steven Chong mentioned in an earlier post. Effectively exposing it for exactly what it ultimately is... the conspicuous and disingenuous expression of moral values with the intent to enhance its own image. Either way, not so good for ADA's brand positioning, nor for commanding a progressive or conservative fandom.
The jury is still out and so am I; out of clichés...
How about a terrible haiku instead...
A person just lied...
ADA gone run and hide,
fairness been denied.
Know that it fails because it rhymes, but at least it speaks to truth.
Perhaps unfair and Albert, the IAPLC and ADA need tweezing apart here. Combined though there certainly doesn’t seem to be much credit left in the trust department, especially if this is all that comes of outright cheating in a competition.
PARAGUAY
Member
I think ADA will come good on this. They cant just come up with something that partially works. We have our own suggestions they theirs and they will be working on this. Personally l doubt any previous GP winners or most in the contest ever cheated. In any walk of life you will get this but the way the top aquascapers discuss an welcome critique and discussion of their creations gives the spirit of Amano will suceed
LondonDragon
Member
Guess ADA not doing anything about it 😉
www.adana.co.jp
TOP OF THE WORLD 2020 #04 Albert Escrihuela Cáceres | AQUA DESIGN AMANO
I have very strong feelings for IAPLC and ADA. For many years, I have had a great passion for the Nature Aquarium. Being top 7 was one of the dreams of my life. When I was watching the live stream of IAPLC, I had a mix of emotions. I was very nervous because this work was one of the most risky...
www.adana.co.jp
Wow . . . Just wow! I'm quite shocked. It's one thing to not do anything about it and bury their head in the sand, but to actually run a feature on the guy, that can't be right?Guess ADA not doing anything about it 😉
TOP OF THE WORLD 2020 #04 Albert Escrihuela Cáceres | AQUA DESIGN AMANO
I have very strong feelings for IAPLC and ADA. For many years, I have had a great passion for the Nature Aquarium. Being top 7 was one of the dreams of my life. When I was watching the live stream of IAPLC, I had a mix of emotions. I was very nervous because this work was one of the most risky...
G
Guest
Guest
I'm not, not really, for reasons I mentioned earlier.
But not only have ADA/IAPLC done nothing about it they're actually celebrating Alberto's achievement.
Effectively what they're saying is, not only is cheating allowed it's positively rewarded...
It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds amongst the aquascaping community.
Hopefully, it has more integrity and forces ADA to rethink its position.
Now I've Googled the guy a bit, and I've seen he seems a own an ADA branded Aquascaping store in Spain, and appears to promoting the ADA brand somewhat, the old sceptic in me suspects direct commercial reasons why they won't out the guy.
I'm not a Facebook user, but I'm amazed that no one has took him to task directly on his Facebook page given he is using the scape to promote his business too?!
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Nigel95
Member
Haha my first entry in the IAPLC contest rank 477 was disqualified because I also entered the same work into CIPS. A shame really what Albert did for all the people that work so hard on their tank every year.
Personally I am not against color correcting for example if you shoot with flash you have too to correct somewhat. A photo looks very different with flash compared to what you see with normal aquarium lighting. Sure you could just photograph your tank with aquarium lighting. However if your very serious about the contests you put a lot of hours into it. So it is understandable you want the 'best' photo as possible with less noise, more depth of field to have everything in focus and the fishes sharp instead of blurry. You need a lot of light to accomplish thats why I use external flash. Some basic editing to have more dynamic range (details in shadows and highlights) a little bit of sharpening but that's it.
Adding or erasing elements like plants, hardscape, fish etc is a big NO for me personally. If this is allowed it's going to be a VFX artist contest...
Ofc the pressure is high if you want to enter every year and try to increase your rank. At some point it is very hard to improve and thats the reason maybe people like Albert went this route. A big mistake. The same for Indonesian scaper Paryo which is insanely talented IMO. He photoshopped the fish in and they took his prize money away from CIPS. Now imagine losing converted like €12.000 for someone living in Indonesia. That's a lot of money that could buy him a house maybe? but it is his own fault. Expensive mistake.
I wonder how this people feel when adding or erasing elements and get away with it in the contests. It must feel they are cheating a bit no? I think it's good people share this 'drama' in public. This way people hopefully think twice to do it again in the future.
Personally I am not against color correcting for example if you shoot with flash you have too to correct somewhat. A photo looks very different with flash compared to what you see with normal aquarium lighting. Sure you could just photograph your tank with aquarium lighting. However if your very serious about the contests you put a lot of hours into it. So it is understandable you want the 'best' photo as possible with less noise, more depth of field to have everything in focus and the fishes sharp instead of blurry. You need a lot of light to accomplish thats why I use external flash. Some basic editing to have more dynamic range (details in shadows and highlights) a little bit of sharpening but that's it.
Adding or erasing elements like plants, hardscape, fish etc is a big NO for me personally. If this is allowed it's going to be a VFX artist contest...
Ofc the pressure is high if you want to enter every year and try to increase your rank. At some point it is very hard to improve and thats the reason maybe people like Albert went this route. A big mistake. The same for Indonesian scaper Paryo which is insanely talented IMO. He photoshopped the fish in and they took his prize money away from CIPS. Now imagine losing converted like €12.000 for someone living in Indonesia. That's a lot of money that could buy him a house maybe? but it is his own fault. Expensive mistake.
I wonder how this people feel when adding or erasing elements and get away with it in the contests. It must feel they are cheating a bit no? I think it's good people share this 'drama' in public. This way people hopefully think twice to do it again in the future.
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Guess ADA not doing anything about it 😉
TOP OF THE WORLD 2020 #04 Albert Escrihuela Cáceres | AQUA DESIGN AMANO
I have very strong feelings for IAPLC and ADA. For many years, I have had a great passion for the Nature Aquarium. Being top 7 was one of the dreams of my life. When I was watching the live stream of IAPLC, I had a mix of emotions. I was very nervous because this work was one of the most risky...
Just lost a huge amount of respect to Ada now they’ve posted that
glasscanvasart
Member
I feel in the mood for some lobbying. Maybe some fiery Instagram posts, a trail of critical comments and/or some messages to those concerned. Though nothing that can’t be undone or you risk disincentivising ADA and Albert taking the honest path.
PARAGUAY
Member
I might be wrong but social media comments unless well reasoned may have a negative effect. Questions asked by leading ADA competitors and supply ers could be a better way forward. When ADA did the invited aquascape at Green Aqua l believe the head of ADA operations was there a few emails to him and members of the committee and judges?
G
Guest
Guest
Direct action is called for...
Everyone should enter a totally photoshopped fantasy scape.
Oh the irony...
Everyone should enter a totally photoshopped fantasy scape.
Oh the irony...
LondonDragon
Member
Bozo was appropriate😉
rebel
Member
- Joined
- 4 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 2,256
@Steven Chong ; Keen to hear your commentry on this. Surely Amano would not approve of this sort of behaviour.
glasscanvasart
Member
I imagine that Amano would have passed judgement on the cheating without delay. Maybe I’ve misread his character, but I don’t believe he was too cautious or considered, more like a man with conviction.
I don’t think I’ll enter IAPLC 2021, because of the spineless response, but in the long run I’ll probably end up entering the competition in the future. I don’t think there is really a substitute to the IAPLC. The EAPLC isn’t anywhere near as competitive and I wouldn’t go anywhere near anything endorsed by the CCP, so the CIPS is ruled out for me. My aspirations align best with the IAPLC and I really admire its competitors, so I guess I will put up with the dishonest judging criteria and spineless response.
I don’t think I’ll enter IAPLC 2021, because of the spineless response, but in the long run I’ll probably end up entering the competition in the future. I don’t think there is really a substitute to the IAPLC. The EAPLC isn’t anywhere near as competitive and I wouldn’t go anywhere near anything endorsed by the CCP, so the CIPS is ruled out for me. My aspirations align best with the IAPLC and I really admire its competitors, so I guess I will put up with the dishonest judging criteria and spineless response.
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