Local photographer turns cicadas into media stars

Many people think of cicadas as creepy and annoying – but they can also be cute, fun, and talented. 

That’s the positive side of the Brood X invasion highlighted by photographer Oxana Ware of North Arlington. 

Ware’s delightful photographs of cicadas in the Olympics, on the beach, putting laundry on the clothesline, getting COVID vaccinations, and in other settings, she says, “started with a backyard adventure and are now going worldwide.”  

Her cicada photos have been picked up by CBS News, NBC 4, WJLA, and other media outlets and will soon be featured in the Washington Post and the Reuters global news network. 

Ware, the owner of Oxana Ware Photography [view on Instagram here], specializes in newborn photographs, which requires expertise in building micro sets. “I went even more micro this time,” she says.

Like newborns and small children, it’s hard to get the cicadas to cooperate. “I just get them to go along with what I want to do,” she says. “I have to adjust my expectations. No one sees the 100 failed ideas before one works.” 

She started off with the goal of trying to get her kids, ages 2, 4. and 5, to not be afraid of the cicadas. “If they see the cicadas doing laundry, they think they must be nice and cute. Now, they love the cicadas.”

“To me, they’re cute,” says Ware, who loves nature, including insects. “Cicadas are one of the only types of insects you can see clearly without a magnifying glass.” 

She also maintains they have different personalities. One might be better at weightlifting, for example, another might prefer posing with a guitar, while others are more inclined to fly away.

When she casts them every morning, “they’re all lined up for auditions. They seem to be having fun.” 

Her next series will feature cicadas in space, most likely starting on the moon, then riding a comet and the rings of Saturn, and landing on Mars. 

While Ware is a serious photographer, “I do have an unconventional sense of humor,” she says. “I’m glad the cicada photos resonate with people after COVID.”