As a few of you may know, I’ve had this idea for using a tarantula with a nude model for a few months now. Finding a spider owner willing to let me use their pet, however, was a tad more difficult than I would have expected. In fact, I was surprised that it was so much easier to find models willing to let a creepy spider crawl on their naked body than it was to procure the tarantula itself! But I persevered, and one of my new friends, Jason, happened to have a pet tarantula and was gracious enough to let me borrow it for my shoot.
I wanted to maximize my access to the tarantula, so I combined two completely different concepts into one evening of studio work. The first concept (below) combined elements of classic nude figure studies with the spider added. Sort of a “beauty and the beast” idea that never fails to intrigue me. Note: These examples are chosen for being safest for work, not necessarily because they are the best shots – look for those to be added to my gallery later this week…
The second concept we shot was my original idea of the spider having captured the model in it’s web. It was a much darker and creepier theme than the figure studies above, and required a little time to setup. It’s awesome to see how close to my vision we really got with this series! Same model and spider as the first, but a totally different mood. Again, this example is just the most work-safe of the lot.
Thanks so much to Kayli for being a wonderful model and such a good sport with the tarantula, to Liana for her spider wrangling and set assistance, and to Jason for letting us borrow Rosalita for this shoot. You guys are the best!
