The photos by Chinese pro photographer Ka Xiaoxi in [this](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-10-01/children-of-the-yuan-percent-everyone-hates-china-s-rich-kids) article seem to all have a very bright harsh flash going off. (More work by the same artist [for Nike](http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/xiaoxi-ka); also see [his web site](http://www.kaxiaoxi.com/).)

Typically for my personal photos I tend to avoid using flash and just use natural lighting since I only have the built in flash on the camera and it comes out looking horrible.

Why are *these* photos so captivating to me, though? They seem appropriate for the tone of this style of article (the "let's take a look into a world that most of us will not know" style). I feel like I see this kind of harsh flash with stories like this frequently. 

Is this a named style, and are they maybe using more than just a raw flash to achieve the composition of this look?