Bill Henson is Australia's most notable leading contemporary photographer. His use of dramatic lighting is used as a tool to highlight drama and terror, that gives his photographs an emotional background and gloomy feel. What I like about his photos is the great contrast between light and dark, they are almost a coloured, more dramatic kind of black and white. His portrait photographs are very successful in the way that he works as the dominant image of the face is lit up in the right places, not too light to keep the dark feel, everything else is a deep dark shade, almost black. 


This photograph is a very good example of what I mean;

 I adore this photograph, I like the unusual length of it and even though the face is the main part, he is creating a mood by creating a lot of negative space on each side, that feels right with the fearful eyes of the girl, looking into the depth of the blackness.



Now this photograph is just amazing, the way the girl is floating over the city lights in her dirty top, it gives me shivers down my back. This photo creates such a beautiful story in my head of this girl who is so fucked up from the city's adrenaline of a night life that she doesn't even bother going to bed she just falls asleep there and floats off, still hearing the music, the people, the roads and the water - but in reality she can't sleep. That is probably not at all what the artist meant photographing this, but your own interpretation matters too right?