How can i fly through a text alpha?

I'm trying to create a title for a home video. What I'm trying to achieve is to have is in a 3D space where the camera, moves back from focusing on the picture, back through a 'text alpha'.

Layers (front to back)

[camera animated to stop here, after flying through "layer 1"]

Layer 1 - Text Alpha (Text should be transparent showing the image behind, all other space should be flat white.

[camera starts here]

Layer 2 - Image (photo)

Background - Flat White

Problems I'm having:

1) If i create a mask for the Image layer (Layer 2) i can get the white back ground that I'm looking for. However it appears i can not create Z axis space between as they are one in the same thing?
2) If i make the text a separate layer and set the blend mode to Stencil Alpha, I get the transparent text but all other space is black.

Thank you in advance