ALONG CAME A SPIDER
When it rains it pours, sometimes. Another close-up opportunity presented itself this week with somewhat satisfying results for me.
This spider happened to be preparing his catch for either storage or dinner, I really couldn’t tell which. As I watched and snapped several shots, the spider would work around his capture with legs spinning. Then he would stop and remain motionless for several minutes – maybe resting, I’m not sure.
Now for my strange spider fact of the day:
Spiders taste like…peanut butter! You probably thought I was going to say “chicken” didn’t you? In the South Pacific some people cook spiders into their recipes and others deep fry them. Casual diners report that they are sticky and nutty—like peanut butter. In Africa, some people capture large tarantulas, roast them over an open flame, and eat them the same way one would eat shrimp. Can you imagine? I’ll say this much, you will never find me sprinkling spiders on my toast any time soon.
Any ideas as to what kind of spider this might be? It would be native to Southern California. I certainly have no idea.
Thanks for stopping by!
Photographyfree4all's Blog 
Nice close up – I can see quite a bit of detail here!
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Eughhhh! I really could have done with a warning before looking at this one! What kind of spider? A horrible one! I hope you were using a zoom lens and weren’t really that ‘up close and personal’ with it *shudder*
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Thanks, Holly! I really don’t like spiders very well. I know they eat hundreds of insects, but that doesn’t help. I’m glad you stopped by.
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Thanks for your comment, Diane! I’m sorry for the shock this morning. I have to admit, I really don’t like spiders either! I was actually not using a zoom at the time. In fact, my greatest fear was that I might actually drift into the web as I was taking the shots. That’s how close I actually was to the spider. I’m glad you stopped by – even it was not a very pleasant visit for you! 🙂
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Great shot! Great close-up, the detail is definitely pretty good, I love the way you’ve managed to get the web nice and clear.
As for eating spiders… I suppose if they tasted very good! We’d just have to get over the revulsion of putting it in our mouth, but the fact is, some people might feel the same about eating shrimps! I guess it’s just a matter of what we’re used to.
Excellent work! Well done!
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What a beautiful spider. Nice shot of the web, the lighting seems perfect.
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Thank you for stopping by today and leaving your comment, Heather. It’s not something I would normally look for to shoot. But, when the opportunity presented itself, I thought – why not? I hope you’ll stop by again.
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Great shot! And that’s saying something cos I have a real phobia, including pictures of spiders! I’ve a photo challenge on Saturday if anyone is interested ‘cos I follow and know how much you like a challenge! (www.helenog.wordpress.com)!
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That is one scary spider! I don’t remember seeing anything like it when I lived in CA, but maybe I was just lucky?
I too avoid using a tripod. It’s such a pain to carry around and it limits my movement too much.
Great detail this time!
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Nice shot… – ehm: Did you taste it after, when you found out the taste was like peanut-butter??? How big is (was!) it?
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I’m not sure what kind of spider it is but you captured it well.
I won’t be eating spiders anytime soon, either. It just doesn’t sound appealing.
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Oh wow!! What an awesome picture. Ive found myself getting into bug pictures lately – getting “Close” to them is kind of creepy, and I dont know that I could get that close to a spider!! Kudos! And I hope to never know if they taste like peanut butter 🙂
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Thanks for leaving this kind comment, Helen. I really don’t care much for spiders either. I hope you’ll stop by again, soon.
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One thing I’ve done is begin to take more shots of my subject. I snapped around 100 shots this time and found some of them to be very good. A tripod is cumbersome, but it helps if you have the time to set it up and use it. It wouldn’t have worked here even if I had it with me because there was a bush I was having to work around that would have prevented a tripod set-up. I’m glad you stopped by, Ms. Pearl!
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I’m a pretty picky eater, Truels. I don’t care if this spider were draped in chocolate, I would not have been able to eat it! I would guess this spider to be about 2 inches in diameter, but that was without him being completely stretched out. Ewweee…just the thought of that makes me shiver! I’m glad you stopped by today.
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No thank you to the spider meal, Robin! I wish I could figure out what kind of spider it is, though. I’ll have to research it a bit more. Thanks for stopping by.
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Close-up photography presents some interesting challenges and I think it’s just a lot of fun. I guess it helped to have the camera between me and the spider, because I could not believe how close I actually was to him. I did think I was going to drift into the web at times. That would have been the end of that photo shoot!! I’m glad you stopped by today, Leaves! I hope you;ll stop by again.
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Thank you, Kai! I really do appreciate your kind words. You’re more daring than I! I could never eat a spider – no matter what it tasted like! It probably is dependent on what we’re accustomed to. I’m glad you stopped by today!
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An awesome image and a great story about the peanut butter flavor. I’m sharing this with several very young friends of mine who are really into spiders right now. 😉
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I absolutely love spiders! The past couple of posts you have talked about close up work…just an fyi i just posted some good books to read and my blog is about close-up and macro photography. I totally recommend you saving for a macro lens…. I know you will be very happy with it 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by, Cynthia. I’m glad you were able to share this with your friends. I hope you’ll visit again, soon.
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You must be a rare person if you actually “like” spiders, Janice! 🙂 I checked out your information about the photography books. I’m very interested. I’ll have to check out these books. I think I’ll find them very interesting and helpful! And, I agree with your take on a macro lens – I know I wouldn’t regret it! Thanks for all of this help. I really appreciate it. I hope you’ll stop by again. Thanks.
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Thanks for stopping by my blog long enough to leave a comment. I have to say, if spiders taste like peanut butter, I might be one to actually try them if I were in a country where it was a local favorite!
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that is one heck of a neat shot. great even-colored background, that can really make or break a shot like this.
I’ve eaten some weird stuff before (also in asia) but so far, no spiders!
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Thanks for your comment, John! You always get right to the point! It always encourages me. I hope you’ll stop by again.
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What an amazing shot. I’d never have the courage to take such a picture of a spider. I hate them. Any chance I get I’ll try to squish one. But one that big? Uh-uh. I’ll just run screaming from the room (no joke). But this is amazing, truly. Although I could have done without the fact about spiders being quite a delicacy as food. Yuck.
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Thanks for this comment, Mallory! It’s a funny thing about spiders, I really don’t like them at all – but, I don’t mind photographing them. Of course, I could never, ever eat one! I don’t care if it was dipped in chocolate! Thanks for stopping by!
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Just stay away from Brown Recluse Spiders aka Violin spider..Am new here and will be back…when the spider is gone. lol!
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I just took a picture of the same kind of spider. I was looking a line to find out want kind of spider it is when I found photographyfree4allwordpress.com and foud the same spider. I’m in Mobile, AL.
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That is so cool! Glad to hear from you. These images were from the spider exhibition at the Natural History Museum – Los Angeles.
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