Arachnaphobia

While I was out this evening, apparently James and his buddy Ben were busy testing their arachnophobic reflexes. Hanging not far above our welcome mat (WELCOME! lol) was this friendly little guy (may he rest in peace). The guys grabbed my camera (brave boys!!!) and took turns manning it trying to get some shots of what is, admittedly, the biggest spider I've ever seen (besides a tarantula). When I got home, I was intrigued enough to take a few shots myself. If you are squeamish, just imagine me 6 inches away from this beast! If it had moved, I think I would have fallen off the ladder, and WHO KNOWS what might have broken or bruised!! Thankfully he held still.

ANYONE: any clue what kind of spider this is??? Was he poisonous? Did we risk our lives to take these pictures?

Here's the spider in relation to our porch light.

And here's my friend Ben's best shot, which I think I actually like better than any of mine! I wasn't here...maybe he talked soft and asked it to smile and pose nice. I'll have to get a few pointers from him on arachnid portraits.

I will be posting some REAL sneak peeks soon! I have SEVEN photo shoots this week, and a beautiful wedding to process (Matt and Toni)! So when it hits, there will be a lot of it! Try to keep up! :)