White Pocket, AZ. Oh, what a night. In June of this year, I wandered off to White Pocket. It was a wonderous evening, moderate temperatures in the 80’s that night, a very slight breeze blowing in from the east and not a soul in sight. That’s right. I had White Pocket completely to myself. It’s so rare anymore to find White Pocket empty as I have arrived before to crowds of people.
This night it was just White Pocket and me. The day had been warm, and I laid back on the stone ground as the cameras whirled and clicked. Both hands behind my neck I looked up to take in an utterly fabulous sky. A few very light clouds drifted across the sky to the east. Perhaps it would be best to call them tiny wisps. A coyote occasionally called in the distance, but the silence was profound and heightened my senses further.
It was, in my opinion, the greatest night of 100s of nights filming the Milky Way. I can’t convey in mere words the sense of exhilaration that washed over me. Seeing this image in the camera and having set it up in my mind earlier made it hard to sleep as I wandered back to the car, this being the last image of a fantastic night.
This result is my 2nd attempt at processing this image. I had tried in a 2×1 format (long panorama) earlier and abandoned the effort after 20+ hours. The ground had looked better, but the sky looked stretched and odd. I have been very careful putting this one together because to me it’s my ultimate image of the beauty of White Pocket. It’s now one of my favorites. I hope it will be one of yours.
Specs 48 images (ground shot extra wide to take it all in), Canon 6D, Zeis 55mm f1.6, ISO 8000. Milky Way shifted left for better framing.
Please enjoy, comments as always are welcome.
