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River by you - IIAC 2019 #34 - Steven Chong / Japan

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This year, i have focused in on Japan. I decided that as a Japanese American with the opportunity to live in Japan. I should, somewhere in my career, create some layouts dedicated to the nature of Japan -- sooner. Better than later, Here. I recreated the sense of a Japanese river with all native plant species. Barilius, Asian Hillstream Trout too, I chose for similarity to the native trout species (Unfortunately most Japanese fish eat plants...). 

River by you - IIAC 2019 #34 - Steven Chong / Japan

The Tittle "River by You", Comes from Potamogeton-- a genus found world wide, the Greek roots mean "River Neighbor"! I thought through creating a stream, and using Potamogeton, I could tap into the audience's nostalgia. Finally, I'm also proud of this work because it is my only recent major contest entry not photographed by Masashi Ono, but a picture I took myself! This is my first entry to the IIAC after several years, and I am honored for the opportunity and grateful for all the experience /i gained working on it

IIAC 2019 World Ranking Announcement - World Ranking 0034 - Nominating Work

River by you

Author: Steven Chong / Japan

Aquarium Size/W120 x D45 x H45 (cm) 

Comments from Rony Suzuki

The positioning of the rocks creating shadows in contrast to the white sand bottom and the branches positioned to give the illusion of following the flow of a stream is a strong point of this montage! Even the dark rock on the left, which could be very disruptive, have been softened by the positioning of the fish, giving the environment its naturalness.

Comments from Frederic Fuss

I really love this design. It has balanced colors, well chosen planting and structure. This is one of the rare examples of an almost biotope-like design that at the same time has a lot of artistic expression and thus represents a real rarity and preciousness. A really masterful job, you earned all my respect!

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