Mexican red-knee tarantula

Do you remember in the movie Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harrison Ford looked down into the pit of snakes and said, 'Why did it have to be snakes?" That's how I am with spiders. If I saw one of these guys in a hotel room, God forbid, or in the desert somewhere, I'd call in an airstrike and need psychotherapy for about 10 years! Needless to say, then, I photographed this in captivity during one of my Frog and Reptile workshops where one of the animal handlers had total control over this Mexican red knee tarantula. A few of the people in the workshop were brave enough to hold it, but I couldn't possibly. It was hard for me to get close enough for a picture, but you know . . . a photographer has to get the shot. The spider was placed on a piece of black Plexiglas, and I used a ring flash for the lighting. A 50mm macro lens forced me to get too close for comfort, but I did it, and my settings were 1/125, f/32, and 400 ISO.