Snake Charm.

slide show photos of spectacular snakes.

While taking photos for his new book "Serpentine" (Abrams, $50), Mark Laita was bitten by a deadly black mamba snake. (He even captured a picture of the snake biting his leg—though he didn't realize it until later, when he was reviewing his shots.) Fortunately, it hadn't injected any venom. If it had, the bite could have been fatal.

Mr. Laita kept at it anyway. The book has nearly 100 portraits of the slithery beasts, shot against a black velvet background. A little creepy, yes, but they're also strangely alluring. "Their beauty heightens the danger," he writes. "The danger amplifies their beauty."