The sanctuary of Lourdes flooded, in Lourdes, southwestern France, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. French rescue services and police are evacuating hundreds of pilgrims from hotels threatened by floodwaters from a rain-swollen river in the Roman Catholic shrine town of Lourdes. (Photo by Bob Edme/AP Photo)

You might feel as if you are being watched when you look at these incredible pictures – revealing the close-up world of a spider's eyes. The intimidating creatures, which look like they should live in a horror film, star menacingly at the camera as every fleck of colour and hair are revealed. But despite their appearance the arachnids are actually jumping spiders, which measure a tiny six millimetres in length. The harmless arachnids, which are capable of jumping up to six times their own height, can be found in grassy meadows and on the walls of houses on sunny days. (Photo by SWNS/ABACA Press)

Artists perform during the Closing Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 21 August 2016. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)

A pool ingeniously filled with clear water in the middle of Lake Kerniki in Greece enabled this shot of feeding pelicans. (Photo by Bence Mate/Close Up Photographer of the Year 2020)

A huge atlas moth, with a wingspan of more than 9in, photographed on an areca nut plantation in Sirsi, India. (Photo by Uday Hegde/Close Up Photographer of the Year)

Performers line up during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, February 23, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Darron Cummings/AP Photo)

“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)