Part 1 of Advanced Bonsai Course https://www.bonsaiempire.com/courses
reflections of Walter Pall
Now
the Bonsai Empire video courses with Bjorn Bjorhom are definitely going into serious
information. Books and almost all videos out there are only touching the
obvious matters which are easy to describe. Even after decades of
reading books and magazines the advanced bonsai practitioner still does
not know or understand many things while he thinks he is. This is
because in writing and with static pictures only so much information can
be transported. I have personally studied thousands of pictures in
magazines which tried hard to show how and why things are done. But they
have mostly failed because of the sheer nature of the medium. A well
done video can overcome these limitations. And these videos certainly do
exactly that.
When looking at bonsai videos on
the internet one soon gets tired of the usual amateurish ways they are
done. We are all spoiled by professionally done movies on TV and other
media and expect a certain standard - which usually is not met in the
bonsai world. Bonsai Empire has again pleased me with very well done
professional videos.
I tried to look at these with Linux Chrome and failed. After switching to Firefox they work smoothly.
The
advanced to very advanced bonsaiist for whom these videos are made is
usually eager to learn details about DOING things. I am personally very
much interested in a philosophical and historical background as well as
reflections about bonsai as an art form. The first part covers this very
well. For those who are not so eager to start with this I suggest to
skip the first parts "Philosophy" and "Aesthetics § Design" and go right
into the practical parts. After this I strongly suggest, however, to to
go back and thoroughly watch the first parts. The walks through
nurseries and Japanese gardens alone is all worth it.
After
forty years of studying bonsai one would think that everything was
heard and said. This is not so. With keen interest I went through the
whole six hours, trying to pick up information that was new to me. And I
caught a lot of this. Even with matters where I have my own ideas it is
very important to understand what other serious people think.
The
practical part about conifers is of high value to the advanced and very
advanced students in my eyes. Many details you will have heard or read
about but after watching the videos you will finally understand them.
The
broadleaved species part is interesting and revealing. One shortcoming
in my opinion is that it is too much focused on the Japanese way of
seeing these species, as if this was it and there is no other way. Since
in Japan they do not collect broadleaved species from the wild there is
no information about this aspect. Hopefully some more videos will go
into this in the future.
Overall I can only
recommend this advanced course to all serious bonsai practitioners.
There is no better way in bonsai to invest a relatively small sum.
We are all looking forward to part two which is supposed to appear later on this year.
