Thomas Shahan: My Neighbor Spider

This is a guest interview prepared exclusively for PhotoInterview by Vadim Costyrin from the 500px team.

To be honest, I could never imagine that our journal would feature a macro photographer specializing in shooting insects. The matter is that I have a strong arachnofobia, or simply speaking, spiders and bugs piss me off. I’m from those people who understands that somehow insects are useful for nature, but wouldn’t mind if there was no such a thing around. Imagine my surprise when I saw the photography of Thomas Shahan – I had expected to see disgusting things, but saw funny and cute creatures instead. I actually smiled looking at them. It’s not that I felt a desire to touch them, but nevertheless, I made a small yet important step towards the myriads of myriapods. Yay! Thomas just hits the nail describing his work as “arthropod portraiture” – indeed, spiders in his pics have a character! They look funny, odd, silly, sad, playful, but never scary. That’s how I saw them, and hope that’s how you’ll see them too.

The interview is a must read, especially for those who cannot boast passion for insects. Who knows, maybe it’ll be the first time you look at spiders and bugs not with fear and disgust, but with a smile. Thanks Thomas Shahan for re-discovering insects for us, and thanks Vadim Costyrin for discovering Thomas.

It seems to have become a seasonal thing – the majority of my photography work happens in the warmer months when the bugs are most active and abundant. So – I end up wandering around outside for hours searching the fields and woods for anything that interests me. Although it can become quite a lengthy, grueling, and exhausting process in Oklahoma summers – it’s a wonderful feeling to be alone outdoors doing something so rewarding.

I’ve had a lifelong fascination and appreciation for animals, but only got into macrophotography of arthropods rather recently – about 3 or 4 years ago when I bought my first digital camera.

I think I’m attracted to entomology for countless reasons – but the most fundamental interest for me is the immense variety and beauty of relatively common bugs and spiders.

I’m attempting to not only publicize the extraordinary beauty present in arthropods, but also simultaneously change the general mindset towards bugs and spiders.

Ha, not currently. I usually like to leave arthropods in their natural habitat if I can, but on occasion I will bring home certain bugs and spiders to photograph. That said – I will never keep them captive for long and always make sure to return them to where I found them originally.

I understand that for some people, bugs—and spiders in particular—can evoke some unpleasant emotions. Widespread misconceptions and irrational fears have created a general disgust of spiders among the public, sadly causing them to be widely feared and worse yet – unappreciated.

I can only hope that through my close-up views, many people’s disgust will turn to reverence and they will realize that arthropods in general are beneficial neighbors – not pests.

All my subjects were found in the wild in Oklahoma. I would love to travel in order to photograph and study more American species – but currently have not done so – at this point my involvement with macrophotography is nothing more than a successful hobby.

I use a Pentax K200D DSLR body, a set of extension tubes and either a vintage Pentax Asahi Takumar 50mm f/1.4 or a Pentax Takumar Bayonet 28mm f/2.8 prime reversed to the end of the tubes. I use a vintage Vivitar “Zoom Thyristor 3500” diffused by a homemade softbox crafted from a used Goldfish box, duct tape, tinfoil, paper towel, and clear plastic for the lighting.

I’m sure I’ve looked a bit odd to others while out photographing bugs in public – laying face down in the grass and dirt with a camera always sparks questions. There are no serious hazards – for the most part, bugs and spiders really are harmless and have no desire to hurt anyone. To date, I’ve never been bitten by a spider.

I’ve been featured in several magazines now – Popular Photography, Discover, Popular Science, The Big Issue, Weekly Reader, Pentax User UK, and a few more. No actual exhibitions just yet – though I would love to show my work in a show some day.

Ha, she was never intended to be Mary, although the imagery for my serigraphs was obviously influenced by the traditional depictions of Mary cradling Christ. Aside from the visual similarities, there is no religious subtext to my artwork. As for the “inner meaning”, I’ll leave that up to the viewer – the ideas came from dreams which I likely can’t explain in any coherent manner.

Of course I enjoy his paintings – I’m more comfortable drawing than painting, and I see Van Gogh’s brushwork and rhythmic lines as a bridge between the two mediums. I never intended for that self portrait to resemble Van Gogh’s work, but I likely was inspired by him to some degree. Someone pointed out that it looks also quite a bit like M.C. Escher’s self portrait.

Nothing really major comes to my mind – I have no long term goals at this point. I would really like to eventually get a nice big coffee table book together of my photography, although I’m not sure how marketable high magnification arthropod portraiture is. I can only hope that if it’s something I would want personally, it would attract others as well.

Go out and observe life around you. Insects and spiders are largely harmless and highly beneficial animals that are often remarkably beautiful under high magnification. It doesn’t matter what kind of camera you have – it’s the subject that will make the photograph.

Don’t miss a chance to get to know more about the art of Thomas Shahan:

Photographer’s website: Thomas Shahan
Profile on Flickr: Thomas Shahan’s Photostream

All photos copyright © Thomas Shahan. Reproduced on this page with permission.
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