The year is coming to an end, and with a busy few weeks ahead, this will be my final blog post of 2018. I didn’t want to leave you with a couple of relatively uninspiring photos of a wolf spider I found in the basement this week, so instead I went through my photo library and selected eight of my favorite spider images from this year that I had never shared. Hopefully none of them scare you away!
Salticidae species. 
Salticidae species. 
Oxyopidae species. 
Thomisidae species. 
Araneidae species with a bug caught in its web. 
Possibly Pholcus phalangioides. 
Phidippus audax with a syrphid fly. 
Salticidae species.
Thank you for following along with my photography adventures and The Backyard Blog for a second year. I think the biggest step I made this year was beginning to use the camera flash with a homemade diffuser, which opened up many new macro opportunities because I no longer had to find naturally well-lit subjects. (I have since abandoned that awkward design and now just hold a polystyrene take-out box lid in front of the flash with my hand.) I hope I will make several more steps forward in 2019.
Stay curious, and have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
My favorite spider is the cute salticidae species and Phidippus audax. Thank you for sharing your work. I enjoy your posts each week and all your wonderful pictures. You have truly opened my eyes to the wonder of Gods world we rarely even notice.
Merry Christmas Mark and all the best to you in the New Year.
They really are cute little guys! I know they are little because I’ve seen them! Amazingly little! 🙂 And some have color on them too which is unreal since with the naked eye we miss that! Thanks, Mark! 🙂