Why don't we see trees in the same way anymore?

[mapleX]

Today while walking through some galleries of bonsai images to recreate the view, world-class trees, most award winners, I started to think how my tastes/preferences have changed over the years in the hobby and in that reflection arose this thought that there are two large groups of people in the world and their reaction when looking at a bonsai, the first group made up of people with experience, bonsaists and the other people with no relation to this art...usually both groups do not they are impressed by the same trees, why do they think this happens?



The years in this hobby take you away from the simple emotion and amazement to change what we valued at the beginning for other new interests ?

 

[Paradox]

With anything in life, new experiences and knowledge can change someone's perspective. It is how we continue to grow personally through life.

However, I don't think it lessens the appreciation for good trees. I've been learning bonsai for 11 years now and I am still in awe of a really beautiful tree when I see one. I have greater appreciation for how it got there because I now have knowledge about how that is done, but it doesn't take away from the beauty of that tree for me. I still get moved by trees I find beautiful.

 

[Ply]

Because we don't only see a tree but also the skillset that has been involved in making a tree. The avarage person sees a bunch of leafs, needles, trunks and branches. We see years and years of development.

It happens with virtually anything that involves a skillset, music, photography, even sports. Spending hundreds of hours on something changes the way you look at something and it makes you appreciate different things. We see a bonsai and immediately start thinking of concepts like nebari, ramification, bark, tree age, needle size, fertilization, negative spaces, assymetry etc. These are concepts that, within the realm of bonsai, the average person hasn't ever even heard of. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it does mean that the bonsai enthusiast and the average joe are likely to appreciate different trees for different reasons.

 

[Cajunrider]

I think my appreciation for beautiful trees remain the same. However, as I learn more and more about bonsai, I can look at a tree and have a pretty good idea of the labor that goes into creating the tree. That makes me appreciate refined trees more but that doesn't sway my feeling about the beauty of the trees. For example, I can appreciate the work that goes into those perfectly domed trees but they don't move me much. I may still like the trunk, the nebari, the overall composition but the domes don't inspire me.

 

[mapleX]

Because we don't only see a tree but also the skillset that has been involved in making a tree. The avarage person sees a bunch of leafs, needles, trunks and branches. We see years and years of development.

Personally, I came to the conclusion that my gaze towards bonsai became so drastically technical that I stopped appreciating that search for the trees of my childhood that I had at the beginning...somewhere along the way i lost what i felt when i first saw a tree in a pot

The trees so full of detail and perfectionism, being able to appreciate/understand over time the hand of the artist behind those trees produced at least in me a change to such an extent that now before seeing a tree I see the skill of its creator. ..and I'm not so sure it's okay for it to be that way

 

[dbonsaiw]

I agree with the above and would also never underestimate the power of conditioning over time. Some things are best appreciated only by those deep in a particular bubble. Which is to say they are not objectively nice to the layman, and it becomes more of an acquired taste for those who insist on repeatedly eating things that aren't pleasant at first. I'm looking at you literatis (LOL).