View allAll Photos Tagged whitepocket
“Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple."
― Terry Pratchett , Jingo
Antony Spencer--"Deserts of the Southwest" Photo Workshop
On the remote Paria Plateau in Arizona's Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, White Pocket is a group of swirling, multicolored formations of Navajo sandstone, including domes, hoodoos, gullies and potholes. Arriving at White Pocket inside Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, you are initially struck by the contrast of white rock in smoothly rounded mounds and cliff edges, dotted with two imperial looking spherical beehives rock cones
"White Pocket" is a distinctive rock formation in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona USA.
Well worth the drive through sand and rocks!
This is in the "Arizona Strip", a section of Arizona north of the Colorado River (Grand Canyon) only accessible by crossing the Navajo Bridge north of Flagstaff on the east side or going through Nevada and/or Utah on the west.
View full screen! It's 4K.
Milky Way over Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness after rain, leaving behind filled pools and clear skies.
Composite images to provide sufficient detail to the ground and minimize noise:
Landscape: ISO100 f/8 60s
Sky: ISO3200 f/4 20s
This is 3 exposures blended together using my advanced Photoshop tonality control and multiple exposure blending techniques. I produced a video detailing these techniques, it's available here: www.zschnepf.com
Another from my recent trip to the SW with fellow Photo Cascadia member Sean Bagshaw.
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Image created during the Lake Powell photo tour I organized last year. After the houseboat portion I added a “through the deep sand” portion for some of the participants by driving to White Pocket. Present image was the last of this day at White Pocket with the very last light of the day caressing the landscape with a faint red velvet.
Interested in a photo tour through the American Southwest, Brazil, Bolivia, Namibia or Tuscany? I can help you with it and make you come back with unique shots.
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Image is under Copyright by Peter Boehringer.
Contact me by email if you want to buy or use my photographs.
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Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, AZ. How do you measure time in a timeless place? I should be exhausted...reaching somewhere this remote is no small accomplishment. The drive is something to have a healthy fear of, and the trouble you can find yourself in out here is not something to be taken lightly. Having taken all morning on bad and worse roads to get here, we set up camp and explored. White Pocket has dangled in my imagination for years, but I had no real sense of it, I was not prepared for what I found. Cones, domes, ledges, potholes...my feet ache from gripping slickrock ramps at angles dangerous to be on, my body sore from contorting behind a tripod and balancing so as not to fall, my eyes full of too much information. The hours of the day melt away as I wander a world tipped on end, petrified rivers of color pouring down and across a fun house floor that tilts and undulates underfoot. There are layers of history I can’t comprehend. I seem to grow from child-like delight into an adult who calculates light and shadow and how to make it work. By twilight I am seeing an afterglow, a deeper, brighter and richer radiation of color as if exaggerated in reminiscence. Later, after picking my way by headlamp across rock faces that didn’t seem that hairy coming up, I think of the places I want to see, or see again. Despair begins to creep in, the intersection of time and opportunity. I feel it slipping away. How do you measure time, in a timeless place? Against your own mortality, I guess. There is a sad knowledge that my time is inconsequential here. Such sacred places are older than all my lifetimes, but I hope they are part of what I always seek, and that I find them again, in time, somehow, like I found you.
Happy Sunday!
Here is an iconic view of White Pocket with a moody sky to top it off! Who doesn’t love the Desert Southwest?
White Pocket is a little area hidden in the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Despite being a small area it offers a variety of compositions that cannot be fully explored with a single trip there. Besides, each visit to the area offers quite different light and weather conditions which makes each visit a unique experience. For further information about White Pocket I recommend reading my travelogue.
Interested in a photo tour through the American Southwest? I can help you with it and make you come back with unique shots.
_______________________________
Image is under Copyright by Peter Boehringer.
Contact me by email if you want to buy or use my photographs.
_______________________________
We've been out doing a lot of night photography lately, helping photographers capture images of the night sky like this. We'll teach you our best techniques for capturing the Milky Way. And on top of it all, we'll take you to some stunning locations! Visit our website at www.ActionPhotoTours.com to learn more.
I'm excited to see what our Action Photogs will capture tonight at White Pocket on their overnight camping trip! Will it be storms and dramatic clouds, Milky Way, or some of both? Led by Nickolas Warner and Amy Osness, they are ready for a photographic adventure!
Here's a shot I took earlier this year with clients out at White Pocket. I really liked the foreground s-curve that I was able to bring out using the low-level lighting technique.
As if my last few posts weren't an indication, I'm going through my Arizona archives. On this early morning, I only took one photo of this composition. Now I wonder why. I really do like it. I must have been headed somewhere specific, and this scene caught my eye.
If you do nothing else in this life... get out and see places you never thought could exist. For me, White Pocket is one of those places... the ability to lose oneself into the harsh but beautiful desert environment of rock and sandstone is just something most people never get to experience. Looking through my images from this very quick trip, only leaves me wanting to return for a longer period of exploration.
Our overnight workshop to White Pocket during monsoon season has long been one of our most popular! It's been sold out but we just had a spot open up for Aug 13-16! Click the link below to learn more. This shot was taken on this workshop last year. We enjoyed crystal clear skies for Milky Way and we were having so much fun that we forgot to get sleepy! And having Jupiter shining so brightly really added to the celestial mood of the shot.
White Pocket sure has been good to us this spring! On this recent evening, we really lucked out with an amazing sunset followed by perfectly clear skies for Milky Way! We are heading out there tonight with all the camping gear and some excited photographers. Can’t wait to see what the group captures!
These are some of the best conditions I've ever seen out at White Pocket. Absolutely no wind, full water pockets, and beautiful clouds. I actually had to remove some of the color to make it look natural. Our clients were stoked and came away with some incredible images. Come explore the Southwest with us! All tours include professional photography instruction and we'll get you out to the best locations.
A photo of an area of White Pocket on the Paria Plateau in Northern Arizona. Getting there requires a high clearance 4x4 because of the deep rutted, very sandy road. Well worth the trip.
Contorted Layers
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
Arizona
March 2025
White Pocket, tucked within Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona, is a hidden gem of swirling sandstone, otherworldly rock formations, and vibrant colors. Its landscape—a mesmerizing blend of white, red, and orange sandstone—has been sculpted into domes, ridges, and brain-like textures over time. Adventurers are drawn to its alien beauty, where each turn reveals a new geological marvel. Its remote isolation enhances the mystique.
Looks best from the air. To me, this 450-foot high butte resembles ornate architecture from some mythical kingdom in Persia or the far east.
View is northwest, toward the Cockscomb (red cliff), and Bryce Canyon 40 miles behind the butte. This butte is climbable on the north side by brave hikers.
I've explored and photographed some of the outcrops behind the butte on the prairie, like Jericho and the Four Forts. See my Paria New Discoveries 2019 album. Also, get views of White Pocket Butte from all sides in the White Pocket album.
It was a beautiful but cold night to shoot the Milky Way on our trip to White Pocket. The "Castle" is lit by low power led panels on both sides.