Boags Hoags, Jumping Spiders on pencils (Animal & Nature 2021)

I have at least three species of jumping spider living in my back yard and have taken many photos of them in this locale. I learned they are curious little creatures and will jump to a finger or another object you present to them. Rather than continuing to photograph them on leaves and branches, I thought it would be interesting to photograph them on man made objects for a better sense of scale. These were supremely challenging images to capture. Each pencil was handheld in front of the lens and manipulated in ways to encourage the spider to move to the pointy end. I have become a bit of a spider wrangler, but I can’t tell you how many times they jumped to my diffuser or on to the lens. All were returned to the camelia bush at the back of my yard unharmed.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.