Not all change is bad. Nevertheless, photographer Theresa Airey's newest book 'Bermuda Then & Now' does provide a thought-provoking reminder of just how dramatically the Island has changed over the last 100 years and how much its charm, cultural and architectural heritage, open spaces and vegetation have been compromised or reshaped.

Denser use of land, and with it the disappearance of spacious gardens and backyards, the whittling away of arable land, the changing face of Hamilton, burgeoning motor traffic, and more are all there to ponder in this book.

Yet, as Lady Vereker says in her foreword, there is still much of which we can be proud, including the many individuals, organisations, foundations and trusts dedicated to the preservation, conservation and education of the Island's natural beauty.

In fact, Mrs. Airey admits that part of her reason for producing her book is her concern for the preservation of what is left of Bermuda, which she has grown to love in her 11 years as a resident.

"With the 400th anniversary coming up, I just hope that Bermuda doesn't destroy everything in the name of progress," she said. "I don't want to say 'I don't want progress', but progress can be handled with a little bit of care. You are taking away everything that people want to come here to see – the beauty and the amenities. That is why we live, work and visit here. I just hope people think about what they are doing."

Citing the traffic as one environmental threat about which we should be concerned, Mrs. Airey added: "By the end of 1946 there were 926 motorised vehicles on the roads. Two years ago there were 62,415 motorised vehicles transporting a population of 62,209, so there are more vehicles on the Island than people.

"Today, the figure has increased even more, and the vehicles are getting bigger and bigger every year, but the roads are not." The genesis of Mrs. Airey's book began when she bought a 1979 book of photographs from the author Bernard Wells. Although cloudy, the photographs provided a glimpse of turn-of-the-century Bermuda, and she felt something more should be done with them.

She suggested to Mr. Wells that they do a 'then and now' exhibition, for which she would go out and photograph the matching 'now' images. But he said he was retiring and leaving the Island and had sold the negatives to artist Christopher Grimes."

However after contacting Mr. Grimes, Mrs. Airey found him in favour of the proposed exhibition, which was held at the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard in 1999. While she travelled around the Island taking photographs, and hand-coloured the matching old images, Mr. Grimes painted some of the old scenes in oils.

"The images were well received and sold well, then the exhibition came down and was gone, but the images of old Bermuda tugged smiles from the face of my professional ability," the author remembers.

So much so, in fact, that 10 years later she again contacted Mr. Grimes suggesting that they repeat the 'then and now' project, this time in book form for posterity, to which he agreed.

Once the usable negatives were selected from the large collection, Mrs. Airey realised that, when the 'then' and 'now' images were placed on facing pages, the contrast between today's bright, colourful Bermuda and the original black and white images of yesteryear would be too stark, so, with soft pastels and pastel pencils7, she used her expertise to restore and hand-coloured some 75 of the 100-year-old images "in the colouring palette used in the early 1900s" – a long and laborious process. Mrs. Airey then travelled the Island re-shooting each old image from the same, or as close to the same, perspective as the original photographs. Some of the changes Mrs. Airey faced were topographical – flattened hills, different vegetation and street direction, paving, vanished and remodelled houses, as well as new buildings obscuring old views.

Despite everything, she still managed to "come close to the images taken over 100 years ago" – an endeavour which often involved clambering over rough and tumble shorelines, scaling hillocks and walls, negotiating alleyways, and more.

The result is a 178-page book which provides not only a photographic record of a period in Bermuda's existence, but also historical information, and an insight into changes in fashion, transportation, lifestyles, architecture, technology, shipping and more, for all who turn its pages.

Indeed, 'Bermuda Then & Now' is a superior publication from start to finish, a hallmark of which is the meticulous attention to detail. Its attractive hard-back covers, featuring seamlessly melded 'then and now' photographs, is laminated to protect it from the ravages of humidity, dampness, mould and mildew, and can be wiped clean.

The book begins with an index and ends with a brief history of each parish in the relevant time frame of the book, as well as biographies of Mrs. Airey and Mr. Grimes, and a catch-all section entitled 'Photography Notes & Odd Bits'.

If the page featuring a quotation from former US President Jimmy Carter seems out of context in a Bermuda book, the author disagrees. "Jimmy Carter served in the US Navy during the Second World War, and his submarine was moored here. More recently, he often visited his son when he lived in St. George's, but kept a low profile. The people of St. George's loved the Carters, so I thought I could use Jimmy's quote. I just think it's terrific. These little bits of history make the book cohesive."

The photographs are arranged in separate chapters by parish, beginning with St. George's and moving westward to Sandys. The preface page to each parish features a map of the Island, with the parish shown in colour.

A couple and a young woman, known only as 'Miss Dolly', who are seen on pages 86 and 108, provide the vital link between the original photography and how the negatives not only found their way back to Bermuda, but also gave rise to two books and an exhibition.

"The great, great grandson of the man in the photographs walked into Mr. Wells' store back in 1990 – almost a century later – and said, 'My great grandparents and their friend, who were from Massachusetts, came to Bermuda every year on vacation for 11 years between 1899 and 1910, and they took all of these pictures. Would you like to buy the negatives?' Mr. Wells accepted, and used them for his book before selling them on to Mr. Grimes," Mrs. Airey relates.

Two years in the making, and compiled by Mrs. Airey, 'Bermuda Then & Now' has been printed and bound in Hong Kong by Regal Printing Ltd.. Published by Re-Impressions, with cover and layout design by Kenneth R. Morgan of Studio IX, the book is priced at $50 and sold in Dockyard at The Littlest Drawbridge Shop in the shopping mall, and the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard; in Hamilton at the Bermuda Book Store, the BookMart, A.S. Cooper's, Kathy's Kaffee, and the Bermuda Society of Arts; and in St. George's at The Book Cellar.

Mrs. Airey will hold a book signing at the BookMart on Friday, December 19 between 12 noon to 2 p.m.