brandon rodkewitz photography

I took very quickly to a technique called light painting, and had been photographing anything and everything I thought might be interesting. One night I found myself in a local cemetery. I'm not very superstitious, but the entire time I was there I realized I was speaking in this rambling verbal dialogue, aloud. Why was I so irrationally afraid to be in this place at night? I'm not afraid of animals - people are scarier than animals and there certainly are no people around... Spirits? Why should they be threatening? I have no ill-intentions here. I'm simply making photographs. So then what is making me scared to venture more than a short distance from my truck?

That night after capturing what is now my favorite photograph of the series, I decided I needed to debunk this irrational fear. I did so in the same way exposure therapy is used to treat those with phobias. I ventured into various cemeteries well after dark, photographing my environment until I was not so afraid to be there. The verbal dialogues quickly receded to mental, and they eventually became more and more... comfortable. I did remain anxious though about getting caught (after all, "just taking pictures" is a weak, frankly strange alibi!).

The photos in this series serve simply as visual proof that I have been there.