Kite Festival Minchinhampton Common 29th May 2016

"JAPAN" a photobook by Hiroyuki Ito

I really enjoyed this photobook " JAPAN " by Hiroyuki Ito and it was a bargain at £15.20 including shipping . 

The JR Rail Pass is one of the best things available to tourists visiting Japan allowing almost unlimited travel by trains for a one off fee and vastly cheaper than buying individual tickets. It is only available to foreign visitors so most Japanese people can't buy or use them . 

However Hiroyuki lives in New York and when he obtained a green card he was able to return to Japan with the coveted Rail Pass . 

I like the concept, Japan seen through the eyes of an ex-pat given the freedom to roam the rail network as randomly and cheaply as a foreign tourist. 

All the photos were taken on film and are presented in monochrome in the book . 

You can buy the book here 

http://www.blurb.com/b/7083520-japan

First Orchids of the season Minchinhampton Common 15th May 2016

A wonderful sunny day with not too much breeze, almost perfect conditions to photograph Orchids.

I passed a few Early Purple Orchids on my walk but it was the large colony of relatively rare 

Green Winged Orchids I wanted to see. This year there seemed to be hundreds if not thousands of plants flowering including white varieties and some light pink examples too.

Please click on the images once or twice to view at full quality

Early Purple Orchid for comparison 

Early Purple Orchid Flower in close-up again for comparison.

Green Winged Orchid Flower , the green stripes that give it's name clearly visible.

A light Pink example , there were a few dozen of these around.

A much rarer pure white variety, I found three plants but there may be more.

These are not albino as the green chlorophyl is still present.

Another pink plant with pollination in progress 

A little of my thumb to give an idea of scale 

A third small white example hiding amongst the daisies