“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 40-tonne humpback launching out of the water in an incredible breach in New South Wales, Australia on October 2022 in front of a sunset. The humpback whale can grow up to 56 feet long and typically covers 9,900 miles a year as it travels through the oceans of the world. Humpback whales are a species of Baleen whale, meaning they don't have teeth. Instead, they have baleen which helps them to filter feed. Their main source of food is krill or tiny bait fish. (Photo by Jodie Lowe/Media Drum Images)

Olga Conover of Palm Bay, Fla., walks down the bridge at sunset carrying her merged American-Ukraine flag near the end of a march marking the one-year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine, late Thursday afternoon, February 23, 2022, in Melbourne, Fla. A small but passionate group of Ukraine supporters took the Melbourne Causeway to show their support, organized by the Ukrainian Space Coast group. (Photo by Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP Photo)

Clouds gather as walkers pause atop a ridge in Mountain View, California January 7, 2016. (Photo by Noah Berger/Reuters)

A general view shows the part of the skyline of Dubai covered in an early morning fog on October 5, 2015. (Photo by Rene Slama/AFP Photo)

A general view of the Drax Power Station, illuminated in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in North Yorkshire, Britain on April 1, 2022. (Photo by Lee Smith/Reuters)

Drone view of vehicles after part of the ceiling collapsed in a mall in Osasco, Brazil on March 9, 2023. (Photo by Carla Carniel/Reuters)

Thai residents party after sunset in the water on a flooded street along the swollen Yom river August 24, 2011 Phinchit, Thailand. The death toll has climbed to over 37 as 13 provinces remain flooded with 1.5 million affected. In Phinchit 110,000 people's homes have been flooded by nearby overflowing rivers. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)