Mike Powell

One of my fellow photographers excitedly pointed out a small spiderweb to me as I was preparing to leave my local marsh and I moved closer to investigate. At the center of the web was a small colorful spider of a type which I had seen before, but had never identified. I realized that I must have a peculiar reputation when others start to get excited about spiders on my behalf.

I felt obliged to take some photos, given that my friend had gone to the trouble of spotting the spider for me, but I didn’t have any great expectations that they would turn out well. The spider was small and the angle of the web made it a little tough to keep everything on a single plane (and I was handholding the shot at close range).

I really admire the artistry of spiders and their webs, however, and have not seen many this spring, so I took quite a few images and was pleasantly surprised with the result. The spider probably is an Orchard Orbweaver spider (Leucauge venusta) or possibly the similar Leucauge argyra. As you may note, this is a kind of long-jawed spider with legs of differing lengths. It is an ongoing mystery to me how the spider is able to weave an intricate, symmetrical web with such asymmetrical appendages.

Out of all of the subjects that I photograph, spiders tend to be the most polarizing—readers tend to find spider images to be either creepy or beautiful. I hope that the majority of readers will view this colorful little spider as beautiful.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.