Certain images have helped educate me as a photographer. After years trying to understand the water issues of Mono Lake and the agricultural issues of the Central Valley, I made this image. In doing my earlier projects, I had learned much about the environmental issues of water in the West and the social issues of agriculture in Californias heartland. With this image, I began to understand the political nature of my work. My future projects built on that understanding as I expanded my interests throughout the West and later took that knowledge into a global context.