Award-Winning Photographer Returns Downtown, Authors Book

From pregnant bellies to newborn babies, and growing children, internationally-acclaimed photographic artist Nylora Bruleigh presents a different subject, “Modern Beauty,” in her new studio located at 3 Pleasant St.

Nylora unveiled Modern Beauty in October and provides photo sessions for “any woman who has ever looked in the mirror and not felt good about herself,” she explained. “Every woman deserves to feel beautiful inside and out and have it captured for all time.”

“It feels good to be back in town. This location offers the natural light that I need for highlighting the Modern Beauty,” said Nylora, who is familiar to the local scene.

In 2003, she opened Bellies & Babies to photograph expectant moms and newborns in a studio that was across the hall from her current space.

“The stairs became too difficult for the pregnant moms who had their wardrobe changes and sometimes kids in tow, so we added on to our house and opened a studio there,” Nylora said.

Bellies & Babies came to fruition 12 years ago when a pregnant woman asked Nylora if she would photograph her. She said the woman told her that she had called numerous photographers in New Hampshire and no one would do it. Nylora remembers being pregnant at the time and thought, why not?

From baby bumps to babies, her business kept growing. Literally! She began Real Kids in 2009 to accommodate those families who wanted her to document their babies as they age.

“It was a natural progression,” Nylora said. “I had been photographing children and I continued to offer that, but it was overshadowed with the boom of Bellies & Babies. It made sense to showcase children under another name for my business, and Real Kids was it.

Of Modern Beauty, she said, “I like exploring other areas of photography.”

In the 1980s, there was Glamour Shots, which was more of a makeover session, she said. With Modern Beauty, I am not changing how the person looks, rather, I am bringing out their beauty from within, along with their outer beauty with the help of local cosmetologists at Salon K, which is conveniently located across the street from my studio, she said.

“I partnered with them to offer my clients the chance to have their hair styled and makeup applied professionally and make them feel fabulous for their photo shoot.”

Salon K uses all-natural beauty products by Aveda and provides my clients with an enhanced look that is in line with how I want to convey the Modern Beauty - a professional, confident, natural-looking, happy woman, Nylora explained. She said she takes Modern Business Head Shots for women and men at her new studio, as well.

Nylora offered me the opportunity to take part in the Modern Beauty experience. I hesitantly agreed to do it. After drinking a rich cup of hot chocolate and sharing a few laughs about my impractical 5-inch, high-heeled boots I was wearing (because when else would you wear them?), I began to feel comfortable in front of her camera. Nylora did all of the work. She told me how to hold my head, place my arms, and sit or stand with such ease and clarity that I believed in her vision, which she said was “to get people to feel present and reflect that when I take their photo.”

It was a successful session! And Nylora has earned that success. She received two Photographer of the Year awards in the 2014 International Print Competition of Professional Photographers of America (PPA). The first honor was for Photographic Open, a category in which she was deemed a silver medalist for her portraits overall. The second was for Master Artist, which honors a photographer’s initial portrait and the technical and creative digital process used to augment the finished piece. In this category, she was declared a bronze medalist. Nylora is the only photographer in New England and one in 15 photographers internationally to receive this double recognition in 2014, she said.

Each of her eight images were reviewed in the juried competition and were judged based on 12 criteria that determined their merits. Her work qualified for a second round of judging and earned additional merit, placing one of her albums, “Simply Black and White” into PPA’s “Loan Collection.” With this, her winning images and others from the 2014 International Print Competition will be published in a book, and exhibited at Imaging USA - PPA’s yearly photography exposition set in Nashville, TN, in February 2015.

So what comes after opening another studio and earning Photographer of the Year? Nylora’s book, “Fine Art Portrait Photography: Lighting, Posing & Production from Concept to Completion,” which debuted in early December. Nylora said she dreamed of writing a book about the process of her craft. She said she began researching on how to pitch the idea, and then two days into gathering the information, an editor from a New York agency contacted her out of the blue. This was in Summer 2013, she stated. He had read a story about her awards in an article he was editing for someone about fine art photographers, she explained. He visited Nylora’s Web site and asked her to provide 80 photographs for review for a book. The editor made his selections and gave Nylora six weeks to write the book. It was published by Amherst Media of New York and is available at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.com. Nylora said she hopes it will be in local bookstores very soon.

For more information about Modern Beauty or other Photography by Nylora divisions: Bellies & Babies, Belly Couture, or Real Kids, visit her Web site at photographybynylora.com or call 603-340-0650.

Captions: Nylora Bruleigh, internationally-acclaimed photographer of Concord, poses with her book, “Fine Art Portrait Photography: Lighting, Posing & Production from Concept to Completion”, which debuted early in December 2014, and is available at Barnes & Noble bookstores and on Amazon.com;

The photograph titled “Ice Princess” earned her a bronze medal in the Master Artist category for her photographs and the digital process used to create the final piece.

“Simply Black and White” earned her a silver medal in the Photographic Open category for her portrait overall and was named a part of PPA’s “Loan Collection,” which means it will be published in a book of winning images from the 2014 IPC, and it will be displayed at PPA’s photography expo in February 2015, in Nashville, TN.

Local freelance writer Christine Rice is pictured before modeling for “Modern Beauty,” a new session offered to women by internationally-acclaimed photographer Nylora Bruleigh of Concord, in her new studio at 3 Pleasant St.

Christine becomes a “Modern Beauty” after posing for photographer Nylora Bruleigh, who earned dual recognition as Photographer of the Year in the International Print Competition in 2014 of Professional Photographers of America (PPA). Modern Beauty is a new studio that offers the chance for women to look and feel beautiful for all time, according to Nylora.