White Pocket

Little Known Wonder

Here’s the first chapter in the series of posts, introduced in 2023 Spring Photo Tour, published on April 11. This post pertains exclusively to our visit to the White Pocket on April 5, the first time I had visited there.

I’ve included a map to the location of the White Pocket,marked by the red ballon in the upper right hand corner. It’s in a very remote location, with only a rudimentary, one-way track in and out. It took about and hour to travel the 24 miles in from the House Rock Valley Road, the main road passing through this area of the Coyote Buttes. And of course, another hour in the dark of night to come back out.

We were ably transported to our destination by our guide, Seth Hamel, in his four wheel-drive Toyota Forerunner. Seth operates Enlighten Photography Excursions, specializing in teaching photography and leading excursions to favourite locations. Seth also offers customized, one-on-one photography mentoring for every level of photographer.

Upon arrival at the White Pocket, we scrambled up the periphery of the rock formation, where we took our first pictures. This particular spot features a small water reservoir amid the patchwork of white stone.

Traveling on to the central region of the structure, we encountered this colourful area with an array of rock textures and coloured striping. I was in no hurry to see the departure of some other photographers, realizing that their presence would be a positive addition to the composition. So, I took the shot, which included their reflections in the foreground reservoir. (Unlike some other areas we visited, crowds were not an issue. We encountered very few other photographers in the time we spent at White Pocket.)

We followed the light, beginning with late afternoon and ending with darkness. This next photograph was taken at the beginning of the “Golden Hour” a period of about 30 minutes before sunset, characterized as soft, warm light. A photographer’s delight.

This picture was taken soon after sunset, near the beginning of a period termed the “Blue Hour”, characterized by a dark blue sky before nightfall and total darkness.

The photos get darker as we approach nightfall, as evidenced by this scene shot toward the end of the “Blue Hour”.

We welcomed nightfall as the last stage of our photography for that day. We had transitioned through the darkening of the night sky, getting the photos we had hoped for and beginning to feel the cold, as night settled in. Nightfall was accompanied by a full moon on this date, which served to illuminate the rock in the foreground.

We concluded our day with a brief walk back to Seth’s vehicle and a two hour drive back to our hotel in Kanab. We were all pleased with our day, so on behalf of Tracey, Steve and myself, I thank our guide for transporting us safely to and from the site, for steering us to some great photo opportunities and sharing with us his knowledge of the light and the benefit of his photography skills.