In a career that spanned six decades, the Dutch-Kiwi photographer Ans Westra (1936– 2023) made it her life' s work to capture the growth of a nation through hundreds of thousands of images. Her photographic catalogue is now widely thought of as a photo album of Aotearoa New Zealand.This richly illustrated biography interrogates her remarkable — and at times controversial — practice, and a life that always put photography first.