Is there a land so completely defined by water but also so lacking it? The canyons, arches, hoodoos, mesas and buttes of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico have been shaped by the presence of water for millions of years. Yet, wander through the landscape and you have as great a chance of dying of dehydration as you do of sating your thirst.

The extended study presented here portrays this apparent paradox. Photographs of the parched land interspersed with the occasional waterfall, river, and storm clouds remind us though the West is in a prolonged drying trend, water is still the most potent natural shaper of the land.