Graduation Photo Session in Oak Harbor

Congrats to Cierra Legendre for her upcoming graduation this Saturday! She's heading off to LSU in the fall, and she has such a bright future ahead of her!

Getting the opportunity to shoot her graduation photos was seriously such a full circle moment for me. You see, she attends Oak Harbor High School, the first high school that I attended. I spent most of my 'formative years' in Oak Harbor, and when I went to OHHS it wasn't the beautiful new beauty you see now. They had just built the stadium, and the rest of the school was old, mildewy, and in desperate need of updating. All of the buildings were separated, and if it was raining, you had to just deal with it to get to your next class. Always a problem when you're trying to be a little emo kid with stick straight hair... We even had to be bussed to a run down elementary school for half the day because they were starting the early phases of remodeling. I moved to Chelan in the middle of my Sophomore year (without telling anyone I was leaving) and now the school is this grandiose structure that anyone would be happy to attend. I got to chat with Cierra a little bit about all the teachers she has and it was fun to hear that a good amount of the teachers I had when I went there are still there. (I gushed over my french teacher for a solid couple minutes) - The beach that you see in this photo was one of my favorite places to go. Even after I moved away, when I went to visit my father, I always made a point to come to this beach and just breathe in the salty air. I was ecstatic when they agreed to do photos there. Rocky Point was somewhat of my safe space. I would drive out here whenever I was having a rough day (which was often when your father is abusive) and I was talking to my friend earlier that day about how I lived there for so long and never saw a whale there, and guess what? When we took these pics there was a grey whale in the distance spouting. Truly a magical day and I am so grateful I got to be a part of it.

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