Bill McKay is an Associate Head of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland. He writes extensively on New Zealand architecture in books, journals and magazines and has won awards for his work, including his commentary and criticism over the last decade in Architecture New Zealand. His research focuses particularly on the areas of New Zealand modernism and Maori architecture, most recently with extensive contributions to the books Beyond the State: New Zealand State Houses from Modest to Modern and Long Live the Modern: New Zealand's New Architecture 1904-1984.

Jane Ussher is well known and respected for her documentary work as a photographer, and is regarded as one of New Zealand's foremost portrait photographers. For 29 years she was the chief photographer at The New Zealand Listener, after which she took up a career as a freelance photographer. Her work has featured in many books, including collections of her own photographs. In 2008 she visited Antarctica at the invitation of then Prime Minister Helen Clark to document the historic huts of Scott and Shackleton, out of which grew her landmark book Still Life. Her recent book Coast, written by Bruce Ansley, won the Illustrated Non-fiction category of the 2014 NZ Post Book Awards. In 2009 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to photography, and was also inducted into the Massey University Hall of Fame. Jane lives in Auckland with her husband, Grant, and son, Nick.