What a beast! I am not a fan of spiders, but I definitely like your photo. I guess you caught him spining the web. I like the colours of the spider. I didn't see such spiders where I live. Personally I wouldn't like to meet him on my way.
I love those spiders. They stay out of the way and lay one huge egg sack near the web. I get them in my yard once a year and they don't ever stay long. Aren't they writing spiders like from Charlotte's Web? Its sort of fun seeing what letters appear in the web every day. XD