Regarding spiders: at some point I got interested in macro photography and one day a big spider happened to be on my desk. It stayed still for more than an hour

Regarding spiders: at some point I got interested in macro photography and one day a big spider happened to be on my desk. It stayed still for more than an hour and I could get really magnified shots from several angles, and study its little eyes and minute details on the legs. Got me interested in its species, how to recognize them, etc. This mostly cured me from arachnophobia for some reason.