THE EVENT: ARTIST SESSION, April 2014, Pier 59, Chelsea Piers, NYC

THE SPEAKERS: The Spring 2014 ARTIST SESSION had some of the best speakers to date. The morning started with Kevin Ryan (who was shooting the cover for German Vogue in the next studio), Frank Rizzieri and wife Ana Marie Rizzieri (who was shooting Victoria’s Secret in the studio next to that), all followed by Livio, a top freelance stylist. Each artist spoke about editorial styling and session work. In the afternoon, an ARTIST SESSION favorite, Helen Oppenheim, told attendees how to get published internationally while guiding each to her website: helenoppenheim.com to get inspiration and learn more about beautiful hair images. Oppenheim introduced one of her favorite editorial stylists, Ezel, who showed his covers (Vogue, Bazarre, etc) along with other editorials offering behind the scene stories of working with Helmut Newton and other top pohotographers and beauty teams.

HIGHLIGHTS:

-The Casting: More than 55 top models came to the casting making the selection difficult for those in attendance to pick just one.

-The Studio: Studio 1 is one of best at Pier 59 in Chelsea Piers. ARTIST SESSION attendees were able to spread out while looking up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge.

-The Location: Pier 59 is the primo studio location in NYC (Kevin Ryan refers to it as "his office"). Top magazines, television shows and films regularly book space in any of the studios in the 100,000 square foot photo facility and multimedia complex. Fashion shows are regularly held in one of the larger studios.

SHOOT DAY: Day two was perfect. Each artist or team really "nailed it". Each finished look could grace any cover and truly reflected the talent and vision of each artist. Make up artist David Maderich and fashion stylist Rod Novoa put the most amazing finishing touches on every design. Photographer Roberto Ligresti grabbed each fantastic look on set. This session, more than others, represented true collaboration. MODERN will be publishing these images over the next several months. (The cropped image in this thumbnail is just a tease of the look created by Chauncey Hildenbrandt. Wait until you see this one!)

ATTENDING: It was an interesting mix of attendees for this session, representing artists from Utah (Chaunsey Hildenbrandt and Misty Stetz), Texas (Jose Perales, Reilly Pauly and Bee Salas), Alabama (Rose Fraser and Kevin Kirk), Virginia (Marla Fox), Missouri (Rusty Phillips), Indiana (Michi Lafary), Michigan (Drew Friebe) and Maryland (Alice Ness with new Beauty School grad Melaney Lassen).

THE GOODY BAG: As always, amazing. Valued at more than $1400, the bag included:

-BabylissPro Nano Titanium i" Ultra Thin Flat Iron

-BabylissPro Nano Titanium 1 1/4 inch curling iron

-Portofino 6600 blow dryer by BabylissPro

-Sam Villa TEXTURION micro crimping iron

-RSESSION Hot Tool Mat

-RESSESION Root Control iron

-Verge by ONE Styling Ribbon Iron

-ONE styling Penguin clips

-Andis ENVY Combo Clipper and Trimmer

-CHI brush set

The items were placed in the MODERN SALON MEDIA ARTIST SESSION duffle.

THE LAST WORD: Rusty Phillips, owner of Belle Epoque in Kansas City, Missouri, has attended 6 times. In an email to MODERN's Beauty and Fashion Director following the last session, Philips said: "You have really created something that is amazing, there is no detail you have left out. I LOVE participating in this event. Being from the mid-west we don't get the opportunity to do this kind of session work, with the quality of photographer, make-up artist, stylists and support team. I feel very fortunate and privileged to participate. Each time I do I can see the evolution of my abilities increase." (Check out the video in this post. Phillips shares his thoughts about inspiration.)

THE NEXT ONE: The fall ARTIST SESSION should be as wonderful as the spring session. The dates: October 6 and 7, 2014 in NYC. Please contact Joyce Alverio: jalverio@vancepublishing.com