I have photographed many animals, from tiny little ants scurrying across a pebbled path, to giant humpback whales gliding majestically through the ocean. I have had my difficulties, trying to get the perfect close up of a hummingbird or a butterfly before it flutters off. But none have given me more trouble than…. SPIDERS.

I love spiders, I really do, which is why I always try so hard to find them and get the perfect photo. But for some tremendously frustrating reason, it seems to be impossible to get my camera to focus on them. Ever.

Half the times my pictures end up like indistinguishable blurry smears:

And another 25% of the time, like this:

And I would consider this a good spider picture without a helping hand.

Yes, when I finally found the trick to getting pictures of these eight-legged creepy crawlers, I was ecstatic. All I needed was a friend with a hand, and in my case, most of the time it ended up being my brother, and on the occasion, my mother.

And so here are a few of the spider pictures they have helped me capture of the past year with their very helpful hands:

• Name: Spinybacked Orbweaver
• Location: St. Petersburg, Florida

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• Name: Cross Orbweaver
• Location: Caledon, Canada

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• Name: Jorō Spider
• Location: Kagoshima, Japan

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(Managed to get this one with the rock face as my helping hand)

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• Name: Cross Orbweaver
• Location: Haute-Savoie , France

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And when the spider is bigger than your face… just… just use a leaf. A giant fern leaf.

• Name: Giant Golden Orbweaver
• Location: Hong Kong

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