Cicadas are insects that live below ground for several years as juvenile nymphs. When their internal clock rings, the nymph burrows from the ground, climbs a plant or other suitable object and commences the transformation to become an adult. At dusk, the nymph’s shell splits open, and the soft, pale adult begins pushing out. After it has freed itself from its larval husk, it begins to harden. By dawn, the cicada is ready to live its life as an adult.

I am privileged to have witnessed and shot this photograph of the Cicada that had freed itself from the shell and was hardening.