Dane Peterson is a photographer that was born in Malibu, California, and now resides in Yaroomba, Australia. He does a variety of styles for his photography, he has work in fashion, lifestyle, editorial, commercial work and also work focused on surfing. He was a professional surfer in his younger years, and started photography by accident, so a lot of his personal work focuses on surfing, he has photographed some of the world's most famous surfers including Mick Fanning and Kassia Meador. I however am inspired by his fashion and portraiture work. Peterson has worked for clients such as Urban Outfitters, Vans, Banks Journal and Insight 51.

When looking through his portraiture work, I can see that Peterson uses a mixture of digital photography and instant film photography, and while I like the effect film can give, I’m more inspired by the way he photographs and the way he uses the models. The first photograph of his I saw, that inspired me to look more into his work, was a black and white portrait of Aurora where she’s straight on to the camera, posed with her knees drawn to her chest and quite a blank stare. I was drawn to this mainly because of the pose, I like the innocence of her face, her eyes are wide and staring straight into the lens, which I really enjoy, and I also like the posing, it’s not a conventional pose, she’s drawn in, holding herself tightly, whereas normally, photographers want the models to be quite free to show the styling etc… and I just really enjoy how it helps explain the mood and atmosphere of innocence and purity. There is also another shot of Aurora that’s much closer up, where she has her shoulder in front of the camera and she’s glancing over her shoulder, her eyes glaring straight into the lens. I like how he’s used her shoulder to block some of her expression, like he’s concealing a part of her from the audience, but her eyes are so sharp and in focus so it draws the attention upwards to her face. I’m inspired by this use of a really close up shot, giving the viewer no other option than to look at her eyes, and I’m also inspired by the way she’s posing, blocking some of the view.