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Michael Pankratz’s intriguing works focus specifically on the feet of tarantulas – an appendage that many have perhaps never focused on. The extreme close-ups of tarantulas’ “paws” show fine, colourful hairs, and sharp claws. The 54-year-old photographer said that he actually developed a fair amount of arachnophobia in his younger years, but when dealing with tarantulas, Michael said, those feelings would go away. The scientific name for the makeup of a spider’s “paw” is a tarsus, one of eight parts that make up a single one of the insect’s leg. But the legs themselves also happen to look adorable close-up – something that Michael is keen to point out. In his lifetime, the photographer has raised more than 100 tarantulas, and his photo archive is now into the tens of thousands. His fascination with their feet specifically, Michael said, came from how macro photographs would offer “surreal and vibrant displays of form and colour, often exhibited by the tufts of setae (tiny hairs) surrounding the spiders’ tibial claws”. Here: Avicularia geroldi, foot detail. His fascination with their feet specifically, Michael said, came from how macro photographs would offer “surreal and vibrant displays of form and color, often exhibited by the tufts of setae (tiny hairs) surrounding the spiders' tibial claws”. (Photo by Michael Pankratz/Caters News Agency)
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