"The moment I feel like a plant, or like a bug alighting on a flower, I release the shutter. When I'm not in this heightened state, I may shoot a beautiful flower beautifully, but that is all. For me, the process of photographing a flower is something more, something that goes beyond the flower. When I'm photographing well, I am always floating on another plane – a place between this world and the world beyond." – Mika Ninagawa

About ten years ago, the Japanese critic Kotaro Iizawa coined the expression "onnanoko shashinka," which loosely translates as "girlie photographers." He was referring to a hugely popular group of young Japanese women photographers whose subject matter – simple, everyday things – was captured using a "point-and-shoot" technique. Mika Ninagawa has been described as second generation "onnanoko shashinka," a very skillful photographer with perhaps a more mature approach to her work – but still with a wonderful mix of fun and flair. The pictures in this stunningly beautiful book are large and saturated, a dazzling array of flowers, trees, grass and insects – close-up and ablaze with color. Acid Bloom is an electrifying body of work.