The story of how I discovered this beauty was unfortunate, and a borderline Community Guidelines point 2 violation on my part.

I was kayaking down a rather wide river with some friends, and I was getting into the habit of gliding underneath dead branches overhanging the water so that I could hunt for insects and plants to photograph (I enjoy studying naturalism). By accident, I knocked a spider out of its home, and I proceeded to absolutely freak out and ended up killing the spider. Upon learning it was an orbweaver I felt bad, because I know that they are typically harmless to people, but hey, it’s all a learning experience.