A writer, photographer and artist, Theo Dombrowski studied drawing and painting at the Banff School of Fine Arts and in the Fine Arts Department of the University of Victoria. Before retiring, he was a teacher in international education, primarily at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific near Victoria, BC. Theo donates some of his proceeds from the Secret Beaches books to the BC environmental group the Georgia Strait Alliance and to the international humanitarian support group Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders. He lives near Nanaimo, BC.