Caleb Camilleri Photography

Ethics

This is a collection of general recommendations to other inspiring macro photographers, or people interested in jumping spiders or other arthropods. Firstly, I recommend reading Nicky Bay’s Macro Photography Ethics, a well thought out lesson on how to practice macro-photography in harmony with your subjects. I do my best to follow Nicky Bay’s interpretation of macro photography ethics, but here are four general rules of mine for any animal photography that I would recommend following, especially as a macro photographer:

• Treat your subjects with respect. Do you really love what you’re doing if you hate/abuse the animals you’re doing it with?

• Know your subjects’ limits. If what you’re doing is completely stressing them out, know when to stop.

• Never force your hand. If you can’t get the photo you want by reasonable means, full stop. Be patient and don’t force your subject to do what you want.

• Depict your subjects accurately. Is your scene even possible in nature? Do you represent your subject’s habitat and lifestyle truthfully?

Perhaps the most publicized photo explicitly showing macro photography abuse was the 2011 winner for the National Geographic Photo Contest, photographed by Shikhei Goh. The respected magazine aided credence to this photo despite it obviously being a fake and probably a case of animal abuse, and didn’t back down or condemn the staged photo even when the author admitted it. Since then, this “macro photographer” has resorted to other forms of animal cruelty, such as using strings to manipulate his specimens, and took up photographing jumping spiders as well. In many of his recent photos, it is obvious that either the jumping spider is already killed and is being manipulated to look more alive, or the specimen’s palps are being held up artificially (likely by a string) and the specimen held in place securely for a long focus stack.

Although his kind of photography may appear beautiful to a completely ignorant person, it’s not hard to spot extreme animal abuse in his photography, especially if you are looking for it. For a complete discussion on this topic, and many good ethics recommendations to aspiring macro photographers which I agree wholeheartedly with, please read the excellent article “Why Bug Photography Ethics Bug Me” by Danae Wolfe, and as sad as it is, the things mentioned there actually happen on a daily basis, and it’s sick and disgusting. Do not even consider taking up macro photography unless you will treat your subjects with respect and unless you have a love for your subjects to begin with. If you think your tiny, beautiful subjects somehow do not deserve respect, or you somehow feel it is acceptable to abuse them to get that “perfect photograph”, you will be (and certainly deserve to be) shunned and boycotted by other macro photographers for your treachery with your subjects.

Collecting

To fellow citizen scientists: The importance of collecting arthropods, especially in the field of arachnids, cannot be understated — provided it is done legally, and with the correct mindset. In my personal collection alone, I have around twenty “state records” just in Salticidae, which, if I submitted to my local museum today, would represent the first material records of those species in the museum. Many of these species I only collected because I knew there were no specimens of them in my local museum! Although this sounds like an accomplishment, it is hardly one at all — rather, it is the manifestation of a lack of Salticidae collecting in my state. When preparing to collect arthropods, several questions should immediately be asked:

• Are you legally collecting the specimens you are taking? Do you have a permit and/or have you studied the laws carefully and/or have you contacted the landowners for their permission?

• Are you taking more specimens than you actually need to?

• Are you disturbing/degrading the species’ habitat? (in which case, you will actually hurt the population much more than just by taking specimens!)

• Do you (or another person) actually have a use for these specimens? (if it is theoretical - does it have practicality?)

• Does your method for collecting the specimens hurt other animals? (in which case - can it be prevented by some means?)

Many entomologists or arachnologists can feel very uncomfortable when collecting, especially when they know little about a certain species that could be scarce or endangered already, but specimens are how scientists can do taxonomy, morphology, and genetic research. Specimens can even help scientists to determine how to conserve dwindling populations! So, make sure that if you decide to collect arthropods, you are collecting without guilt only because you are collecting in the species’ best interest — in which case, you may be contributing to many species’ livelihoods in the long run with your efforts.

Arthropods in Captivity

Although the prospect of, say, a jumping spider as a household pet, is quite tantalizing to a large number of people today, it is fueling a market which could be extremely dangerous to the survival of many of these species and their unique environments. Mass-collecting of jumping spiders is starting to become more and more of a concern as the demand for “pet” jumping spiders continues to grow, with collectors offering more for colorful or uncommon species; thus, they are usually targeted heavily and sold for facetious amounts. This trend is only going to spread to other types of arthropods as more people “appreciate” their beauty. Because these spiders are often collected from areas where government intervention is unlikely (like collecting in Mexico, which is completely illegal, but still happens often), probably the only way that we can stop this trend in the short term is by not buying arthropods from untrusted sources, or better, not buying arthropods at all.

If you want a pet jumping spider (or other arthropod), your best bet is just to look around your yard for one, preferably a juvenile, and attempt to raise it. If things go for the worse and the subject isn’t eating, or appears to be failing to thrive, release it where you found it — it will probably manage to stabilize just fine despite the setback. If things go well, then you’ve figured out how to raise that species, and you’ve also completed a practical biological lesson in raising an arthropod to adulthood! If you simply must buy one, please buy from a trusted individual or organization that you know is doing captive breeding, and not mass-collecting from the field.

Raising a jumping spider that you collected legally is completely different than mass-collecting from the wild, and even more so when you are doing it for educational/research purposes. This is similar to why butterfly collecting is still important despite hundreds of years of collecting (A quick read: Why we still collect butterflies, by Andrew Warren). The educational and future benefits often far outweigh the harm to a species from these types of collections.