“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)

A man designs a face mask with the photograph of a customer printed on it, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a photo studio in Gandhinagar, India, May 27, 2020. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Revellers hit the booze cruise in the Croatian port city of Split on August 11, 2023. The hot new party town for Brits. Boat Party booze cruise with Split after dark. (Photo by Darren Fletcher)

Tony Hilliard, left, and his family expose themselves to the elements as Hurricane Ida begins to make landfall, Sunday, August 29, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (Photo by Eric Gay/AP Photo)

A man wear a phallic-shaped hat during Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) on April 1, 2018 in Kawasaki, Japan. The Kanamara Festival is held annually on the first Sunday of April. The pen*s is the central theme of the festival, focused at the local pen*s-venerating shrine which was once frequented by prostitutes who came to pray for business prosperity and protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Today the festival has become a popular tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV awareness and research. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Arrow sports his new elastic booties at a PetSmart in Tempe, Ariz. on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Phoenix radio station KSLX handed out the protective coverings to protect dogs' paws from the hot pavement, as temperatures in Phoenix are forecasted to hit 120 degrees (48°C). (Photo by Angie Wang/AP Photo)

A woman photographs a Norwegian spruce Christmas tree from Oslo after it was lit at Trafalgar Square in central London, December 4, 2014. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

A young female demonstrator is arrested by police during clashes in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong, China on October 6, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through the city's streets in defiance of the new “no-mask” law, which was introduced two days ago as demonstrations roll into a 14th week. (Photo by Rick Findler/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)