Photography exhibit
Celebrating women who live quietly and beautifully



The last four years of Nancy Bruno’s life have been devoted to documenting beautiful women.

She has photographed 35 women – most are from the Capital Region, most were complete strangers to Bruno.

The idea started four years ago, on a beach in Italy. Bruno was admiring women on the beach, and she noticed how comfortable they were in their own skin, and she was envious, she told The Enterprise.

Her inspiration for the project was born on that beach. She decided to seek out women whose life journey had brought with it a comfort in themselves.
The Beautiful Women Project is "a celebration of women who live quietly and beautifully," Bruno said.

One of the women featured in the project is 63-year-old Joan Storey of Guilderland.
"There was a little something different in my journey," Storey told The Enterprise.

Storey lived for seven years in Sparkill as a Dominican nun. The Dominican sisters live according to four values: community life, common prayer, study, and service.
"I wanted to make a difference in the world," Storey said.

She realized that being herself was a way of making a difference, she said.

Storey, after leaving the convent, was a teacher for a number of years. She went on to get a master’s degree in counseling psychology.

She now works as a psycho-therapist, dealing specifically with grief and loss therapy.
"This, actually, is the happiest time of my life," she said. "I think life is really about an unfolding of who we are."

On tour

The project will be on exhibit this weekend in Saratoga Springs at the Saratoga Hotel and Conference Center. It is free and open to the public.

In addition to the photographs, Bruno has written a short biography on each woman, which will accompany each photograph. Her own biography is varied. Bruno grew up in Clifton Park. She went on to study in Montreal and then moved to London for four years. She has been a documentary photographer for 10 years.

Bruno has also produced a companion book on the project.
The book will be sold at each of the exhibit shows, which Bruno hopes will travel around the region. Proceeds from this weekend’s book sales will be donated to "To Life!" a breast cancer support and services organization based in Delmar.

The exhibit will move to the Business and Professional Women’s Fall Conference next weekend, also in Saratoga Springs.

With each new location, the proceeds from the book sales will be donated to a different not-for-profit organization, Bruno told The Enterprise.

More information about the project is available on-line at beautifulwomenproject.org.

"Completely invisible"

All of the 35 women, says Bruno, are wonderful role models.
In the women, Bruno said, "I saw my past self, my present self, and my future self."
"I learned so much about myself," she said.

Bruno doesn’t start shooting with her 35 mm Canon until she has spent a lot of time with her subjects, she said.
"What I really like to do is become completely invisible to my subjects," she said. And to do that, she must first allow her subject to become comfortable with her.
Bruno tries to remain in contact with all of the women, she said. "I keep my finger on all of them in some way," she said.