Spiders!

There's a lot of spiders in my world. No, I'm not talking about nightmares or pets. I live near a lot of trees. Pines mostly, as I'm in a part of the Pine Barrens. These spiders and I have an understanding. No crawling up my leg or trying to invade my home space and all is good. The first moment of fuzzy stepping onto the laminate and it's the backside of the slipper to the brain! Sorry, that was harsh. Anyway, I've been fascinated with the geometry and skill that goes into making a web, and how that translates into my photography. There are a variety of spider types around my house, which is where all the web pictures you see here were taken.

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This guy stayed the whole summer last year right outside the front of our house in the bushes. Notice the little tunnel behind him. That's where he would quickly drag the moths that my boys threw in the web. Don't judge. It was actually pretty cool to watch.

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 The little path in our woods has many of these webs. Often right before sunset you can see many of these webs all along our low lying bushes. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. It could be millions for all I care, as long as the bug population is regulated and the spiders stick to our understanding (see first paragraph).

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Then there are the big fuzzy ones that really like to show off! This web was mounted between two poles that would normally have held up safety netting around the trampoline. The poles are about five feet away from each other! This picture was taken at night, with one hand grasping the camera and shutter release and the other with one of my hubby's heavy-duty LED flashlights. I don't think a normal, direct camera flash would have produced such nice colors. Also, this picture has been rotated from its original state. Although it appears to be walking on top of the web, he was hanging head up. 

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This web showed up morning fresh for about a month. This tree is right outside the front of the house, and clearly the porch light brought in some good eats. I decided on black and white for this picture, as I felt it really brought out the mood of the dewy early morning in which I shot it.