Although they are creepy and pesky, mainly they’re pretty harmless. In fact, they can be beautiful. Give the critters a chance!
That’s what Oklahoma native Thomas Shahan did.
He grew up observing arachnids with his grandmother, and now Shahan has developed a keen eye for the oft-feared, eight-legged creatures. When an interest in cameras collided with his arachnid fascination, Shahan told Oklahoma Today magazine that a magical work of one of the “most beautiful and interesting groups of animals on the planet” got a little face time. Literally.
Shahan looked into the eyes and took an up-close-and-personal picture of a Thiodina puerpera, a species of jumping spider. He has captured close to 40 different kinds of the creepy crawlers, and he’s quite popular by way of Flickr, wracking up more than 50,000 views in less than a day.
