Photons exist, so there is the perspective of a photon. Most may not be absorbed but that's irrelevant because some are. And when they are, their perspective - like them - ends. Like yours does when you die.
The photon does not experience time, but we do, so from our perspective they can be emitted and absorbed even though from their perspective they are timeless. Again, like us. Before you were born, you didn't experience being not alive. From your own perspective, you've always existed, even though from the perspective of someone older than you, there was a time when you didn't.