Introduction
Every once in a while, when out on a nature photo shoot, everything, weather, lighting, color, comes together to create such extreme beauty that one feels blessed to be on this Earth! This happened to me on a two-day photo shoot back in 2023 during the summer monsoon season. It was one of the most exciting photography shoots I have ever experienced.
I traveled to a place called White Pocket located in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Northern Arizona for an overnight camping and desert landscape photography adventure. The goal was to get some great sunset and sunrise shots and, wow, it did not disappoint.
Balanced Rocks and Building Clouds: A Desert Rainstorm Approaches
Arriving well before sunset, I would have time to get the tent set up, scout out locations, and get a feel for the place. This was important because it was the first time I had visited this location. A few years earlier, I had gone to South Coyote Buttes, which is actually located quite close to here, but I didn’t check this place out at the time, instead vowing to return one day to do so. I must say, however, that I still felt overwhelmed.
Some strange rock formations dot the landscape. The formation below with the balanced rock would become an important focal point for me on this photo shoot.
The twisted shapes of the rocks throughout the area are quite amazing and visually appealing. They form many varied patterns and textures, leading lines, and foreground elements. One wonders how these forms came to be.
The clouds in the sky were a promising sign for an interesting sunset and a harbinger of things to come.
Magenta Light and a Lone Pine in the Arizona Desert
As sunset approached, I began to wonder if we would only get dark clouds for the sunset. But then, a beautiful strip of magenta showed up on the horizon. And the clouds began to take on beautiful swirling patterns and a bubbly texture.
Magenta Horizon – Lone Pine in Rock with Magenta Sunset
The blue in the clouds merged well with the magenta on the horizon. In one place, a lone pine tree grows out of the rock, covered in dark green needles. I have seen other photos of this tree before, but it often looked dry and barely alive. This time, it was quite vibrant and full of life. The photo below, titled Magenta Horizon, captures the vibrance of the tree with all the unusual colors surrounding it.
Magenta Sunset on Stormy Day
Below, another photo, titled Magenta Sunset on Stormy Day, of the same tree from a different angle invites the viewer to walk out to the tree, see it from a different perspective, and explore the roiling clouds in the sky.
Now, past dark, with just barely enough light to get back to camp, it was time to head back. I was told that while there are rattlesnakes out here, people who have spent a lot of time here, have never seen them on their numerous trips to this location.
But on the short hike back to camp, what should I hear as I walked? The unmistakable rattle of a rattlesnake. I paused to confirm it visually. It was only maybe 6 feet from me, all coiled up and ready to strike. A bit too close for comfort! Without my long lens, I wasn’t going to dare try to get a photo of it. Best to keep on moving.
Sunrise Over the Desert: Capturing a Double Rainbow in Monsoon Country
The next morning, I woke very early to get onto the rocks well before sunrise. There were still plenty of clouds in the sky building expectations for a good morning shoot. The bottoms of the clouds lit up faintly at first, followed a short time later by soft light striking the tallest rock in the distance.
Then, an amazing transformation began to take place. The sky changed from blue to pink, and the rocks started to take on a warm orange glow.
Morning Glory – A Double Rainbow at Sunrise
Then within the space of only five more minutes, the clouds completely transformed to a beautiful golden yellow, shining glorious yellow light in all directions onto all the rocks and plants. With a light rain just beginning to fall, a double rainbow appeared reaching high up into the sky. The only thing that could have improved on the view would have been for a Unicorn to arrive. Morning Glory!
Sunrise Rainbow Delight – A Double Rainbow Over Arizona's Red Rocks
After another five minutes, the yellow in the distance began to fade to blue again, while some yellow light continued to shine a warm light on the rock feature. Meanwhile, the double rainbow persisted. Quickly, I ran below the feature in order to shoot upwards catching the rainbow arching overhead. The photo of this view, titled Sunrise Rainbow Delight, is shown below.
Twisted Hill Sunrise – Multi-Colored Twisted Rock
A short time later, the fantastic sunrise show ended. But there was still warm light from the early morning sun to work with along with all the interesting rock formations, patterns, and textures to find and photograph. The photo, titled Twisted Hill Sunrise, below shows some wonderful fractured and tiled patterns in the foreground rocks, leading up to a twisted rock outcropping with multi-colored layers and even some strips of bacon. (Bacon? Yes, that’s what some people call the deep red strips of rock, rimmed by white rock, in that feature.)
Parting Thoughts
As late morning approached, it was time to get back to camp for breakfast before leaving this beautiful area and move on to my next planned shooting location. The next location is covered in another blog post I wrote earlier titled “Electric Toadstool“. It is well worth a read.
An unusual number of prints that I offer are covered in this one blog post. Normally, I would write multiple posts to cover all these. But the story of this one overnight adventure, I feel, would have lost some of its impact if done that way. It is a testament to the incredibly beautiful and unusual conditions that so many awesome prints came out of this one very short period of time.
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