A Different Kind of Graduation | Evan’s Senior Session

This was my one and only senior session—and it happened in the middle of a year none of us will forget.

It was 2021, and while I had just officially started my business, I was still navigating how to make meaningful moments happen… even with so many restrictions in place. Graduation looked nothing like what these seniors had imagined. There was no packed auditorium, no roaring applause. Just a quiet, drive-through ceremony held outside.

Evan’s family asked me to come photograph him walking across the stage, and I didn’t want to miss a single moment. This day mattered. And if the world wasn’t going to give these seniors the celebration they deserved—I was going to make sure he had the photos to remember it by.

Evan was up for anything. We took time after the ceremony to grab portraits in his cap and gown, including one of my favorites: him holding a framed photo of his younger self. That full-circle image still gets me.

This session reminded me that honoring a milestone doesn’t always need confetti or a crowd. Sometimes it just takes presence, perspective, and someone willing to say, “You did it. And this matters.”