The last time PetaPixel spoke with talented macro photographer David Joseph, he was using his smartphone to incredible effect. Joseph has now upgraded to a dedicated camera system and pointed his new macro lens at spiders, an oft-misunderstood and rarely appreciated arthropod that plays a vital role in ecosystems across every continent, save for Antarctica.

“I see spiders have a bad public reputation, which should not be so,” Joseph tells PetaPixel over email. “Being ‘eye to eye’ with spiders for a long time now, especially the past three months, has given me some eight-legged friends I long to see every night when I go out.”

When Joseph says “every night,” he means every night. No matter the weather or how he feels, he grabs his camera gear and heads outside each evening to seek out spiders to photograph.

Many of Joseph’s new arachnid pals are wolf spiders, perhaps the most wide-ranging of all spiders due to their incredible adaptability, and huntsman spiders. These common — and mostly harmless — spiders do not benefit from their intimidating appearance and unfriendly names. However, they are beautiful in their own way, as Joseph’s excellent macro photos demonstrate.

Not all his photos show spiders being docile, though. He also wants to capture their “beastly” side, which, as he explains, is just “spiders being spiders.”

Some photos show the motherly side of wolf spiders, too. Wolf spiders are unique in the way that they carry their egg sac. The spider keeps its silken sac attached to the spinnerets at the end of its abdomen, meaning that the expectant mother must change how she moves to avoid harming her eggs.

Once the spiderlings hatch, the mother spider carries her children onto the dorsal side of her abdomen for several weeks. That is one committed mother, especially relative to many other spider species.

The Spiders Help Joseph Feel Connected to the World in New Ways

“A lot of times, I’ve found myself struggling to love or be attached to something for long. These spiders changed that,” Joseph tells PetaPixel. He explains that alongside his photos of the spiders and his new understanding of them, he has felt a closeness that has otherwise been challenging to experience.

“I hope my photos draw people close enough to see spiders from a point of view they’ve never seen them from. To show their strength, motherly side, as well as vulnerability,” Joseph continues.

By looking at spiders eye to many eyes, Joseph hopes that people who see his photos will feel less aggressive toward spiders and, ideally, encourage people to pause and take a closer look at them. A spider is just an eight-legged friend you haven’t made yet.

Joseph hopes that considering spiders differently will enable people to change their preconceived notion that “spiders are bad.” At the very least, someone doesn’t have to enjoy spiders as much as Joseph does to feel respect toward them.

The Move from Smartphone to OM System

As PetaPixel showcased last year, Joseph achieved great macro photos using his smartphone. However, the shift toward OM System, formerly known as Olympus, has enabled him to capture even better images.

“Switching from a mobile phone to a dedicated camera system has been a game changer. I have been able to do a lot of things easily and faster, as well as some I couldn’t even do then,” Joseph tells PetaPixel.

While Joseph could do manual focus stacking using his smartphone, it was extremely challenging and tedious. With his OM System EM-5 Mark II and M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens, he can use automatic focus bracketing.

“My favorite thing about shooting macro with an actual camera is the autofocus bracketing capability, which helps me get more of my subject in focus and achieve a sharper result with just one click,” he says.

While only some camera brands and models include automatic focus bracketing features, Joseph notes that OM System includes this feature on many of its cameras, even its less expensive ones. He also notes that he believes that OM has macro photographers at heart when they design their products. It is easy to agree with this sentiment, as OM routinely offers intelligent and robust features in its cameras and builds its gear to survive challenging outdoor shooting scenarios.

As for lighting, Joseph primarily uses artificial light. “I attach a Godox V350o flash to my camera and a flash diffuser. I use the Cygnustech Diffuser, which is the best and most popular diffuser in the macro photography community. It’s made by my good friend and pro macro photographer, Brendan. Shout out to him for all his brilliant work and support; he’s an amazing person,” Joseph says.

The diffuser helps soften and spread the light from the Godox flash, ensuring that Joseph’s macro shots look natural. “I never use my flash for macro without attaching the Cygnustech Diffuser,” he adds.

Respecting the Subject

Although many people have a misguided — albeit understandable and relatable — fear of spiders, they are very sensitive animals.

When spiders do not feel threatened, they are generally very calm and docile and do not pay much attention to people. However, it is critical to approach them very slowly and quietly.

Joseph spends a lot of effort showing his eight-legged subjects that he is not there to hurt or disturb them. While getting up close and personal to capture enough images for a focus stack may seem scary, Joseph says that spiders “don’t attack.” That is not to say that someone should not be careful and know if a spider’s bite is medically significant before crawling around in plants, especially at night. However, very few spiders pose a genuine threat to healthy adult humans, and even fewer will ever bite someone who is not actively harassing them.

“Any time of the day or weather works. I prefer photographing them at night or early mornings when I know they’ll still be out and probably going on with their spider business undisturbed by humans. Most of the spiders come out at night too, and they’re easy to spot with bright lights. Their bright, reflective eyes give them away,” Joseph says.

One of his favorite species, wolf spiders, has famously reflective eyes. “It’s hard to pick just one favorite,” he says. “I really like how wolf spiders look up close, their speed and strength, their fierceness and care.”

However, huntsman spiders are up there. Joseph’s favorite individual spider is a huntsman he spotted one night eating a caterpillar. “I almost cried the night I spotted her. Weird, but I mean it.”

The lengthy caption in Joseph’s Instagram post below helps illustrate just how much photographing spiders means to him.

More from David Joseph

Hopefully, arachnophobes have been able to appreciate David Joseph’s photographs. He demonstrates admirable passion, respect, and photographic talent. While spiders can be scary, macro photographers like David Joseph help show that spiders are worthy of respect.

While loving spiders as much as Joseph does may be a tall bar to clear, learning to show their beauty through macro photography is achievable for all photographers.

More of David Joseph’s work is available on his Instagram.

Image credits: All photos by David Joseph (@abcdee_david)

By Hayden Sumlin, contributor 

Atlanta, GA — Community partners, photographers, and Emory staff on Sept. 7 held a reception for the upcoming exhibition, “You Belong Here: Place, People and Purpose in Latinx Photography.”

The event in Ackerman Hall at the Michael C. Carlos Museum celebrated Emory’s first exhibit highlighting the Latino community.

“Young Belong Here” is organized by Aperture and curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas, chief curator and deputy director of curatorial and collections at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.

“It’s the first exhibition of its kind at Emory,” said Andi McKenzie, site curator at the Carlos Museum. “But, it is a part of a larger push to expand the collections at the Carlos, so we hope this will be the first of many exhibitions like this.”

As curator of works on paper at the Carlos Museum, McKenzie helped bring Tompkins Rivas’s collection to Emory.

Thanks to Tompkins Rivas and “Aperture” magazine, a nonprofit publisher that supports photography worldwide, the diverse and unique experiences of Latino photographers have been showcased across the United States, before making their way to Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum. The exhibit began Sept. 9 and runs through Dec. 3, 2023. The exhibit was on display at Princeton University Art Museum earlier this year.

Yami Rodriguez, an assistant professor of history, worked with Emory student interns over the summer to craft the interactive component of the “You Belong Here” exhibit at the Carlos Museum.

“The idea was, since none of these photographers are actually local, we wanted to find a way to bring in local voices,” Rodriguez said.

This Fall, students in Rodriguez’s history class will produce an essay analyzing one of the pieces in the exhibit.

The student-led, interactive portion of the exhibit allows museum goers the opportunity to respond to four personal questions about their sense of belonging, their identity, and their broader relationship to the world.

Cassandra Olive and Daisy Macias, Emory’s Andrew W. Mellon intern and Daniel Shultz intern respectively, crafted an activity that allows exhibit attendees to respond to the questions by hand or with a Polaroid photograph.

Some of the responses already posted on the wall at the interactive portion of the exhibit highlight the importance of family, home, and time spent in nature. “You Belong Here” chronicles the unique social and intimate experiences of the Latino community from the 1960s to now.

On Sep. 17, Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Carlos Museum will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a family day, hosted by author Raúl the Third.

For more information about the exhibit, click here.

Editor’s note: The Associated Press Style Guide recommends using the word Latino, which is why this word is used throughout this story. The style guide recommends that Latinx — a gender-neutral term preferred by some people — should only be used in quotes.

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Framing is everything in photography. But one creative shooter takes framing to a whole other level by looking for everyday objects to shoot through.

Gebe Alpar has to use his imagination every time he goes out to shoot pictures as he frames his subjects through a gate, a window, or even a combine harvester.

“I am attracted to this style,” Alpar tells PetaPixel. “Maybe because research studies have confirmed that our brain shows higher activity when we see rounded objects.”

“I like the framing style because I can focus all the attention on a specific subject. Even if it’s an animal, a person, a building, or simply a great view, but in a pleasant placement,” he continues.

“Everywhere I go, I become a curious wanderer, searching for hidden gems in the form of new angles, round shapes in fences, and captivating compositions in the most unexpected places.”

Alpar says he looks for “framed moments” everywhere he goes but most of his captures are done in his hometown of Cluj-Napoca in Romania.

“Most of the time I try to capture a subject perfectly framed on the specific frame I just found. I am focused mostly on buildings, but in the future, I want to include human subjects too,” he explains.

“Sometimes it is hard to get the result I want. I have so many unposted photos because when I saw it twice, it didn’t convey the feeling I was expecting.”

Alpar says that while he uses a Sony A6000 camera and a Sony 18-105mm lens, the best camera for the project is his iPhone 13 Pro Max.

“All the time I have it in my pocket, it offers me a wide range of lenses at an acceptable RAW quality,” he says.

Alpar says it is difficult to pick one out as his favorite but the photo an iconic building in his hometown of Cluj-Napoca is special because it has so much history.

More of Alpar’s framed moments can be found on his Instagram.

Image credits: All photos by Gebe Alpar.