“Jim Fiscus is an American photographer specializing in editorial and advertising photography, including several highly regarded campaigns for the Showtime series Dexter, starring Michael C. Hall. Fiscus, who is based in Athens, Georgia, has won many awards for his work, including at the 2005 International Photo Awards for his portraits of hip-hop and R&B artists Jay-Z, Usher, and Outkast. Also in 2005, he was named International Photographer of the Year at the Lucies, and he is the winner of the 2008 International Aperture Award for his photograph of English chef and best-selling cookbook author Jamie Oliver, commissioned by Channel 4 in the U.K. In 2009, his photographic novella, “The Unfortunate Moment of Misunderstanding”, was displayed at Industrial Color’s M Project Gallery in New York in June 2009”. – Wikipedia

“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)

Just a week before Rio de Janeiro hosts South America's first Olympics, city residents expressed mixed feelings about the cost and security of the Games, while holding out hope they will bring joy to a nation facing economic and political crises. The conflicted thoughts mirror a recent survey by the Datafolha polling group showing that half of Brazilians were opposed to holding the Games, while 63 percent think the costs of hosting the event will outweigh benefits. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Revellers take part in the “Canto a la Tierra” parade on January 3, 2018, during the Carnival of Blacks and Whites in Pasto, Colombia, the largest festivity in the south- western region of the country. More than 10,000 people among artists, craftsmen and revellers take part in the Blacks and Whites Carnival, which has its origins in the mix of the multiple Andean, Amazonian and Pacific cultural expressions. It is celebrated every year from January 2 to 6 in the city of Pasto and is part of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2009. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

“As is probably stated somewhere in the theory of infinity, if you give an infinite amount of monkeys an infinite number of old-timey Polaroid cameras, one will eventually take “artistic” blurry photos of historical sites in Moscow which will then be auctioned at Sotheby's for an estimated $75,000 – $100,000. Fortunately for every simian art fan with a spare $100k, we are currently living in the very universe in which that concept is reality. Eighteen photographs by – and of – Mikki The Chimpanzee are going to auction on June 5, 2013”. – Callie Beusman via Jezebel.com. (Photo by Guzelian)

A visitor takes a photo of a boulder plastic made of synthetic material called “To be in Limbo” hangs from the ceiling of the 20 meter high Jesuit Church in Vienna, Austria, Tuesday, November 25, 2014. The eight meter high, hollow and 700 kilogram heavy sculpture from the artists group Steinbrener/Dempf and Huber is supposed to symbolize faith and its threatening moments. The installation will remain until April 19, 2015 and then move to a church in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Ronald Zak/AP Photo)

“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”

Some artists want to convey some deep message through their art, while some are simply satisfied with shocking the audience. Roderique Arisiaman is the latter kind. Though his works do not play on the strings of our emotion, they can pique the interest with their flashy and sometimes humorous appearance. Many of his works have a zombie theme, and are surprisingly well done, especially the one where a man pushes his fingers through his cheek and into his eye. If given the chance, Roderique Arisiaman would probably do a great job of designing a poster for some zombie apocalypse movie. (Photo and caption by Roderique Arisiaman)