Shutter Sisters

little miss muffet

By

I could hardly breathe.

The good kind of hardly-breathing.

I felt invited, somehow. The spider was translucent, moist, new. Busy, but she tolerated my company as well as my lens. A few times I got too close to her web’s anchoring points and made her world shake and she skittered to safety, annoyed.

Sorry, I whispered. Sorry.

I imagined her glaring at me as she made her way neatly back to the centre. She was right to glare. Her web is her craft, her life source. She does us the favour of finding blackflies and mosquitoes and houseflies delicious. In return, we do her the favour of admiring her and her kind.

Thank you, little spider. I think this every time I see one, even about the plain ones, the ones not nearly so pretty as she. Thank you for being so delightfully hungry, so hungrily industrious.

This hardly-breathing moment is brought to you courtesy of the spider, but only partly. Also responsible is the light. It shone at an angle that morning, low in the sky still. Seeing how it draped lazily across the spider’s art, I laid down on the grass and shot up, from underneath, and into that light. It made diamonds for her.

Today, share with us your hardly-breathing moments. Those during which every press of the shutter is a prayer. Please be properly exposed and focused and clean oh please oh please oh please oh my gosh look at this. Magic. <click>

Comments

  2. i love spider webs. beautiful. awesome moments in nature – the dragonfly, the bee on the flower, my children…

  7. I’ve had two….

    seems crazy I know, but worms move faster then you think. One second their there run inside to get something then their gone….
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/_nikkole/4651052446/#/photos/_nikkole/4651052446/lightbox/

    And bunnies will hop, hop, hop away. This is after two years of trying my very first shot on one…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/_nikkole/4708078838/#/photos/_nikkole/4708078838/in/pool-1392294@N25/lightbox/

    Your spider is amazing.

  10. little miss muffet! this is perfect. the image is wonderful and your spider-friendly ways are just so endearing 🙂

    the following two shots are what you might call ‘stolen’ instants. candid portraits of a stranger, secretly captured in a crowded setting by self-confessed candid portrait-sniping addict, yours truly.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanessa_r/4720159699/in/set-72157607451011710/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanessa_r/4754632871/in/set-72157607451011710/
    at moments like these i too hold my breath, cast a fleeting wish and hope to witness the elusive magic do its work… before said stranger turns away and leaves.
    and you may not believe this but, for all my snooping and people sniping and/or snapping (i do ask permission sometimes!), i have yet to be punched on the nose… or even scolded. i swear!

  18. I’ve done the same thing. Held my breathe. Get close. Please don’t move. Oh, please. Gotta spider! Love the picture!

  19. Such a celebration of that often overlooked or feared! I’ve had many of those prayers but am finding more and more that just acting (taking the photo, painting my picture, taking a step) allows me open conversation with the divine….like talking out loud instead of whispering a prayer. 🙂 May we all be heard!

  21. beautiful. Just beautiful. I have many of these moments, but unfortunately they usually end up the other way…with me saying dammit.

    When it does happen to pan out, it’s usually with my son…like many here, my children are a major subject for my camera. I remember this day, with the light, and his face oh so serious, the far away look and his lollipop. And I got it.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/12418609@N00/4627848153/

  23. It was not the ideal day to do portaits, but hoping to gain some good will and some experience shooting people other than my own kids, I agreed to take some photos of the daycare teachers’ daughter. The sun was too harsh, it was blazing hot at 9 am and the little stinker didn’t really want her picture taken. I spent about 20 minutes running around and sweating profusely to try to catch her in a decent frame. At last, I gave up the chasing and just waited. And held my breath. With the camera up to my eye, hovering patiently in shade, she finally came into focus and I snap-snap-snapped hoping at least one would turn out. And so it did, with no editing required: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40070449@N08/4765749361/

  24. awesome! i’m so scared of spiders, i probably would have run away. i know i shouldn’t be, but i am.
    your story makes me a little less scared though, and i’m glad you captured this moment!

  28. I took this shot just this evening. Whilst walking the dog I saw this little guy (luckily my dog did not – he has never been much of a hunter, thankfully). I ran back to my apartment, threw the dog his dinner and grabbed my camera. I was already holding my breath, please still be there, please still be there.

    I crouched down and inched my lens closer and closer, my knees started to tremble and I didn’t dare breathe….I took a few shots and then left him alone – I figured his world was scary enough without me pointing my lens at him.

    Be safe my little friend 🙂
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/14261878@N08/4769701059/

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