Mono Lake is ringed with ancient limestone towers known as tufa. I made this vista just after sunset, building it around five repeating horizontal layers. The branches of the bush at the lower right create my anchor layer – extended by the tiny branches emerging from the water just to the left of it. A thin layer of reflected clouds moving across the image provides my second layer. They echo the ripples in my third layer, created by a single grebe, the focal point of the entire image. The huge towers of abstracted tufa and their reflections make up the fourth layer, backed by a fifth layer of distant pinkish hills. All five layers are united by the repeating rhythms of the branches at the lower right and the tufa towers at upper left. The overall vista expresses a sense of tranquility in a surreal setting.