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Jane Ussher was the chief photographer for the New Zealand Listener for 29 years. It was the role that defined her celebrated career; she has been a key player in documenting New Zealand culture through images and is widely considered one of the country’s best portrait photographers. Now freelance, she has created and curated a series of political portraits for the Listener in the lead-up to the 2023 general election.
Ussher, alongside New Zealand Listener art director Derek Ward, went into the series first and foremost wanting the leaders of the five leading political parties to look unguarded, relaxed, and spontaneous. “That was the driving force – the thing that was most important for me to achieve in all of the portraits,” she says.
Where in Parliament was this taken?
We were just off the foyer where the new part of Parliament joins the old. We were in an ante-room off that so, when people would cross between the spaces, they would have to walk behind where we were. It was actually ideal for me. I think it was definitely better than taking them into a studio, which would’ve been a very different environment. Here, when there’s stuff going on around outside you, people are less focused on what they’re doing and saying. It was ideal for the kind of portraits I wanted to do.
What were they like to shoot?
David just loves the camera and is extremely relaxed. I’m also in his electorate, so there was plenty to talk about.
He is, in my opinion, a natural performer. We just provided the stage. But at the same time, Brooke isn’t passive. She contributes a lot, and I don’t want people to feel she’s just standing there watching. I think she has quite a strong personality in her own right, and I hope that comes through in the photos. They get on well together.
Seymour is known for his big personality, but Brooke seems to be matching his vibe. How did they interact with one another as the photo was being taken?
She obviously enjoys him immensely, because he’s funny. I think he loves an audience – and she’s a responsive audience. She probably contributed a little bit, but certainly David was the more talkative of the two.
