She studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1979 and her Master of Fine Arts in 1981. She started her photography career by working for travel magazines in 1970 and photographing Brazil in 1972. In 1976 Bridges became interested in aerial photography when she photographed the Nazca plain in Peru. Ever since she has won so many awards and has developed a really breathtaking style for black and white aerial photographs of ancient as well as modern landscapes, and extraordinary or religious sites. Her photos unlike most aerial ones function as sources of information and documentation but also as fine art of the finest and self expression.