Hi George,
A few things have changed, in so many ways. When a hobby becomes a job, it changes the mind set. A change which shocked me a little, but with time, and new routines, things slowly change for the better.
In terms of aquascaping, there are no massive changes. Oh, actually there is. No more aquasoil.
I've been impressed so much by layouts done by Michael over in Denmark, that I thought I should adopt this method. It's not really a new method; an old one in fact, but it works just great.
I was the biggest aquasoil user going, and I don't condone the stuff, far from it. I still may use it in the future, but there are cheaper alternatives.
Methods in plant handling and maintenance have been thrust upon me, and again, Michael has been like a mentor to me. I have, and still am, learning tremendous amounts in how to manage plants. Information that will be shared here and on the web as a whole.
I think also for the future of my own artistic take on layouts, that may well change, as mentioned before, I have to consider showing certain species at their best. If that means placing a plant in random position just to get a good photo, then so be it. But actually, this forces me to think outside the box a little.
This layout for example...I'd of never chosen these plants to go in an Iwagumi, but with certain criteria that needed to be met, I reconsidered what's actually possible, and hopefully, I've achieved my goal.
By no stretch of the imagination am I saying this is ground breaking, but it is slightly left of middle.
The use of Cladophora as a foreground plant (flattened out), is not new, but its 'forgotten' It's kind of going back to basics, with the aim, to help and educate newcomers and advanced hobbyists alike.
, id have to have them bedded right in, with smaller wedge rocks underneath to feel safe incase of substrate movement. In fact i added my rocks first, before substrate in my current scape as they are quite large too.....however that does limit positioning somewhat 
