“Hey! I'm Thomas Shahan, an artist and macrophotographer from Oklahoma. In my spare time over the past few years, I've been shooting portraiture of local arthropods. Why would I devote countless hours to tramping through forests, fields and the like searching for insects and spiders? Well, despite some common beliefs, arthropods (members of the phylum Arthropoda – insects, spiders, crustaceans...) represent an endlessly varied, wildly beautiful and fascinating bunch of animals with surprisingly personable faces and behavior. Often, all it takes is simply inspecting their lives on a closer level to turn repulsion to reverence”. – Thomas Shahan

Photo: Adult Male Jumping Spider at Sunset – Phidippus mystaceus. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows two island foxes in Channel Islands National Park, Calif. Three fox subspecies native to California's Channel Islands were removed from the list of endangered species Thursday, August 11, 2016, in what federal officials have called the fastest recovery of any mammal listed under the Endangered Species Act. (Photo by Chuck Graham/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP Photo)

Beautiful woman and man playing domination games in bed. (Photo by nd3000/Getty Images)

A girl holds her brother in her arm as black smoke rises after an oil well set on fire in the center of al-Kayyara town to the south of Daesh terror organization-held Mosul in Iraq on October 25, 2016. The oil well in the center of al-Kayyara town, which was set alight by retreating Daesh militants in advance of the Iraqi army's takeover of the town on August 24, 2016 has still not entirely been put out. The raw petrol which is still alight is creating black clouds above the city. The residents and wildlife beneath this polluting smoke cloud may find their health at risk. The effects of the fire in the town center on unprotected civilians' health can easily be seen on the hands and faces of children playing on the street. (Photo by dris Okuducu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

People carrying torches march during the traditional Bonfire Celebrations in Lewes, Britain on November 4, 2017. Lewes holds Britain's largest Bonfire night celebrations. The event marks Guy Fawkes Night and the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and commemorates the memory seventeen Protestant martyrs from the town who were burned at the stake. Thousands gather with flaming torches to march through the street and burn effigies. (Photo by Neil Hall/EPA/EFE)

Children try to push an injured and weak dolphin back into the water after it washed ashore during bad weather and high tide on a beach in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia August 12, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Idhad Zakaria/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A performer dressed as Empress Huang of the China's Forbidden City takes part in a musical performance at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur on January 22, 2017 as part of the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations marking the Year of the Rooster. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

A man dressed in traditional clothes tries to pull his opponent over the table at the 40th Alpine Country Championships in Fingerhakeln_finger wrestling_ in Woernsmuehl, Germany, Thursday, May 25, 2017. Competitors battled for the title in this traditional rural sport where the winner has to pull his opponent over a marked line on the table. (Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)