Mother-of-three Theresa Airey was born and raised in Maryland, USA. At the age of 37 she entered college to study fine art and painting, with photography as an elective, and "absolutely fell in love with it". Reading renowned photographer Ansel Adams' first book, 'The Negative', but knowing nothing about him, she was impressed with his brilliance and sought to join a workshop, so she telephoned him. Ordinarily, Mr. Adams did not answer the telephone, but on this occasion he did, and told her he only held one workshop a year, which she had missed. Instead, he introduced her to west coast photographers John Sexton and Henry Gilpin, and he took a workshop with Mr. Sexton, Mr. Adams' top assistant. Mr. Adams looked at her work and said: "I have see a lot of pictures of cats, dogs and kids, but you have a very good eye. You need to go home and learn how to print. Send me a portfolio at Christmas and if it is good enough you will get into my next workshop." True to his word, when next he saw her portfolio, Mr. Adams included her in what proved to be his last workshop in Yosemite in 1980, before he died. After that she began teaching at the Ansel Adams workshops, and had the honour of working with some of the world's greatest photographers. Today, Mrs. Airey not only holds a Master's degree in Fine Arts and Photography, but enjoys a busy, varied and successful career. She is the author of books on photography, and her work has appeared in many related periodicals and books. She has also instructed photography at the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus; Towson State University; and at the Maryland Institute, College of Art. Residing in Bermuda with her husband, Mrs. Airey also teaches private workshops in her studio in Maryland and each year hosts workshops around the globe. She also gives regular seminars for Photo Plus East, as well as numerous conferences of the Professional Photographers of America. She has organised photographic travel workshops in Europe, Tibet and South Ameria, and currently sits on the advisory board for Freestyle Photographic Suppliers. 'Bermuda Then & Now' is Mrs. Airey's second book on Bermuda, the first being 'Bermuda: The Quiet Years, 1883-1953', which was published in 2005. She has shown her work extensively, with separate exhibitions in 17 of the US states, and has held major exhibitions in Spain, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

An exhibition of Mrs. Airey's hand-coloured images opens at Mastworks on January 9.