I almost shit my pants
Well, I just got done taking pictures of this huge Black Widow Spider and I was pretty nervous during the whole thing.
This bastard was a couple inches long with all of its legs and it gave me the heebie-jeebies the whole time because I was getting super close and trying to make it move around so I can get different views of it.
The venom from these spiders is about 15 times more potent than a rattlesnake and has been known to kill children and elderly. I read that they don't bite unless provoked, and well... I was provoking the shit out of this thing.
I have done some pretty stupid things to get pictures and I think this is definitely in the top 5. One of the other stupid things I did to get a shot was hang out of a window to get a shot of a lion that was hunting a zebra and was walking past our jeep on a safari.
Another stupid idea was to have a staring contest with a baboon while standing in the street. Luckily I won the staring contest and it just walked about 5 feet from me and then turned and walked away.
You only live once though right? So I guess when you don't get hurt and you get the shot, it is worth it.
I decided that it might be a good idea to grab a piece of a dead flower plant and scoop the black widow up in it and have it "sit" on the leaves.
Well that pissed the spider off and I was able to get this shot of it as it ran towards my camera. Now just imagine having your face in the viewfinder of a camera, taking macro shots within a few inches of an extremely venomous spider as it is running towards you.
Ya, I about shit my pants at this point because I lost site of it and have no clue where it went. You know that feeling you get when it feels like something is crawling on you? Ya, well I have had that feeling for a while now. Luckily, I haven't felt any excruciating pain or any problems breathing, so I know it didn't get on me and bite me. Time to call the exterminator though and have them come kill it with fire.