“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)

Five year-old Fatima plays as women weave a carpet in a home workshop in Peshawar, Pakistan, January 13, 2022. (Photo by Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

Kayla Amara sprays down their home as the Hughes Fire burns in Castaic, California, U.S. January 22, 2025. (Photo by Joel Angel Juarez/Reuters)

Russian soldiers write home while serving on the Eastern Front during World War I, circa 1915. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Father Christmas hands out presents to children at the Aid And Adoption Society home at Leytonstone. (Photo by Gerry Cranham/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 7th December 1938

A photo from Madonna’s high school yearbook at her childhood home in Rochester, Michigan, circa 1973. (Photo by Rebel Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Jenifer Lopez, 12, watches television at her home in Havana January 9, 2015. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

Pauline Torres carries belongings from her flooded Merced, Calif., home on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)