It never ceases to amaze me how children grow from toddlers to high school seniors in the blink of an eye.

I was recently going through a stack of old letters and photos and found a photo of one of the high school seniors I had photographed this summer. She was probably about a year old in the photo. While it seemed like only yesterday we had received the beautiful photo, it was nearly 18 years ago.

That train of thought reminded me of Mark's session.

I still remember when the bright senior pictured above was in grade school creating Lego masterpieces in his family home.

We've known Mark's parents for years, but with job moves and life paths no longer crossing, somehow time had suddenly frozen Mark at around age 8 in my mind.

When Mark's mom approached me about making Mark's senior photos this summer, it hit me. Mark wasn't in grade school anymore.

Then, one overcast day in September, Mark arrived at the studio. 

In front of me stood a young man with an incredible future ahead of him. 

As I photographed him, we talked about his future plans (think "big"), the classes he's currently taking (think "hard" and his interests (soccer, band).

The more he talked, the more I realized the little boy with Legos is working on a much larger project - building a future.