Jane Ussher MHNZ is New Zealand’s foremost documentary and portrait photographer. Born in Dunedin in 1953, she studied photography at Wellington Polytechnic 1975-79 where she was the first student to be offered a second year scholarship. She joined the Listener in 1977 and was chief photographer for 29 years, leaving to commence a career as a freelance photographer and author.

In 2008, Jane Ussher accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Helen Clark to travel to Antarctica. She spent four weeks over the summer of 2008-09 photographing the three historic huts that served as bases for the Scott and Shackleton pioneering exhibitions. The resulting acclaimed book Still Life: Inside the Antarctic Huts of Scott and Shackleton was published in 2010.

Jane Ussher uses a Hasselblad medium format digital camera on a tripod with long exposures, preferring to use natural light. Her work has been displayed at Te Papa and Auckland Museums. She has authored numerous books and was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Photography 2009. In 2014, she was awarded the non-fiction prize at the New Zealand Book Awards for Coast: A New Zealand Journey. Jane Ussher resides in Auckland.