I discovered this beautiful Southern Black Widow (Latrodectus Mactans) in her web located in the dark shadows near my house. I removed her via a glass jar and photographed her in controlled, isolated conditions due to her deadly venom. She never was allowed to leave the 8x10 sheet of paper for obvious reasons. Photographing her was challenging, for despite my love of spiders, I still had to force myself to put aside any sense of self-preservation and focus. This was my first attempt with a loose, live black widow. I will try again in the future with better lighting and background.

WARNING!! I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO THIS. This is a venomous spider and death is possible. However, black widow spiders typically only bite when threatened and are not as 'evil' as often assumed. You can even find videos of them being handled without injury on YouTube.