Hamilton mother, daughter go viral on Facebook for elaborately posed cicada photoshoot

In the midst of Ohio’s Brood X cicada invasion, Miranda Staudt wanted to share photos of her daughter’s creative configuration involving the critters, so she posted on Facebook.

“Recently discovered that my kid (age 9) has been staging mini photo shoots with deceased cicadas from our yard, and I thought y’all would appreciate her artistic expression,” she wrote June 4 about her daughter, 9-year-old Millie Staudt. “You’re welcome.”

Her friends thought it was funny, and a few asked if she could make the post public, so she did.

Then, it was shared again and again. Overnight, the post went viral, and Staudt said she woke up the next day to an “overwhelming sea of messages.”

Millie, who just finished fourth grade, had previously taken photos of her hamsters in “silly” setups, including staging a birthday party, Staudt said, so she didn’t think anything of it when she borrowed her phone during a work from home day for a few hours.

Staudt said Hamilton, where they live, has been particularly inundated by the Brood X cicadas recently, and her only stipulation was that Millie use already dead cicadas while taking her photos.

“A couple of days later, I saw hilarious photos of cicadas on all of her toys and around her playroom,” Staudt said. “I didn’t stage them myself or anything. She’s just a little kid who loves taking photos.”

As of Friday, the post has been liked by more than 12,000 people and shared over 35,000 times.

And with the attention the post has received, Staudt said she’s gotten some unique requests, from prints and commission requests to an inquiry to mail dead cicadas to Germany for a bug collection.

“The response from people on how amazing the photos are and how talented she is, it's making me take a second look at her photography,” Staudt said.