For three decades, I have been photographing images that captivate me. I realize now how frequently during my travels my emotions are triggered--due in part to my feminist viewpoint--by scenes of women working.

Witnessing the tea harvest in Yixing, a Chinese city just outside of Shanghai, the fields were filled with bent forms. I realized that only women were working the harvest, bent over, working until sundown when they finally headed home with bags of tea tosell. There were no men in the tea fields.

While photographing the architecture on the Bund of Shanghai, I ducked down a small alley. There I was met with an elderly woman squatting between two cars, skinning eels in a basin on the ground. Her makeshift outdoor kitchen was a few feet away with its hot grill and savory aroma of barbequed seafood. I came across another one of these outdoor food carts a few alleys later. Two younger women deftly operated this cart, under damp and dusty umbrellas, with an active clientele.

In Zihuatanejo, Mexico, I was captivated by culturally-specific scenes of women that gave a wry view of multi-tasking. Grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and sisters actively engaged in contemporary commerce while maintaining commitment to the generational roles of matriarchy. One of my photographs shows a woman - with one child in her arms and another clinging to her skirt--selling chewing gum to the sun-tanning tourists on the beach.

I continue to witness the tacit strength of women through the lens of my camera. Industrious caregivers and implicit teachers, these women in my photographs humble and inspire me.