“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

Male Dimorphic Jumping Spider (Maevia inclemens). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Male Walkingstick – Diapheromera. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Damselfly Face. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Portrait of an Adult Male Phidippus putnami Jumping Spider. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Hummingbird Hawk Moth – Macroglossum stellatarum – Arezzo, Italy. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

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

Robber Fly with Prey (Holcocephala fusca). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

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

Blue-faced Meadowhawk – Sympetrum ambiguum. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Adult Male Thiodina puerpera Jumping Spider. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Male Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Small Black and Red Weevil (Madarellus undulatus). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca) Eating a Spider. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Head of a Male Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Damselfly. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Adult Female Cardinal Jumper (Phidippus cardinalis). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Female Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola). (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)