We’d like to take a moment to depart from our normal reporting of photography and film news and tell you about Achard & Associate’s famous poisson, Pierre.

Pierre received his PhD from Harvard in Art History & Management. He has an extensive knowledge of 17th century art history, and is most inspired by the works of Gustav Klimt and Georgia O’Keefe. He is in charge of Achard’s image and branding, the protection of the water cooler, and is the go-to fish for dealing with sensitive situations.

We’ll keep you updated on any developments with Pierre. Is there anything you want to know about Pierre? Next time, we’re going to have a Q&A session, so let us know if there is anything you’re aching to know!

Guarding the water cooler:

Checking his emails:

Reviewing portfolios:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Achard & Associates wants to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! We want to thank you all for making 2010 such a wonderful year. You guys make this job a pleasure day in and day out. Let’s work at making 2011 even better than the last. It’ll be hard, we know- but we’ve got a good feeling about this.

Yours always,

A&A

Our illustrator, Martine Brand, has made a beautiful illustration to help us thank you for a beautiful 2010. (Thanks Martine!)

We want to take this blog post to congratulate our very own Andrew Dosunmu on having his film, Restless City (which we wrote about here) accepted into Sundance Film Festival! We’re so proud of you. The film has been selected for its “innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking” (Sundance). Only eight other films were chosen for the NEXT category, each being a world premiere.

Restless City is the story of an African immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City, where music is his passion, life is a hustle, and falling in love is his greatest risk (IFP).

The festival will be held in Park City Utah on January 20th-30th. If you’re around, make it a point to go watch the film and then let us know your thoughts. We want to hear what you have to say. The Sundance website includes various ticketing options, but if you’re only planning on viewing a few films, individual tickets are only $15. Ticket registration ends December 20th.

Hope to see you there!

Brad Gensurowsky, one of Achard’s commercial directors, has been shooting for the upcoming NBC show, The Cape, alongside Executive Producer, Mark Kalbfeld from Frames Per Second Productions.  The Cape is a superhero drama series whose 2-hour premiere is scheduled for Sunday, January 9th. The series follows an innocent cop who has been framed for a crime. Through an interesting turn of events, he finds himself with special abilities to defend himself against his foes and becomes determined to get rid of the corruption that has plagued the fictional metropolis of Palm City. Click here to view the trailer.

And now, a special treat for our wonderful blog readers…… Exclusive pictures from the promo shoot:

Gabriel Jones has recently photographed the cover of Arcade Fire’s new album, The Suburbs. With great music and equally great album art, Arcade Fire followed the surefire recipe for success (this album went on to debut at number one in the US, selling 156,000 copies in its first week).

The images were taken in several suburban neighborhoods during a road trip throughout Texas. The trip was then followed by a studio shoot in Montreal, where the images were projected on a large projection screen. Finally, the car and band members were positioned in front of these suburban landscapes to achieve the product you see on their album art. The images explore the North American suburb experience, calling to memory the experiences that encompass a suburban youth.

For your enjoyment, we’ve included some  images of the album art below. For the entire series, pick up a copy of The Suburbs, available here.

Mitchell McCormack has just photographed Garrett Hedlund for the cover of ‘2′ Magazine. Yep, you read right. Garrett Hedlund. In case you don’t know who Garrett Hedlund is- Garett is most known for his role in the film Four Brothers and his role as Sam Flynn in the highly anticipated film Tron: Legacy (released: December 17, 2010).

Garrett will be starring as Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) son alongside Olivia Wilde in this sequel to the 1982 film Tron.

Anyhow, Mitchell McCormack’s pictures have been picked up by hundreds of blogs throughout the blogosphere- most notably, Just Jared. Check out the post here. And just for you- yes you- we’ve included some of the images below. Enjoy!

Alex Freund recently photographed pop icons Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl- a shoot that resulted in the coffee table book- Sean + Kemp. The book is a wonderful pictorial portrayal of both of these artists. Alex’s photographs capture the essence of Sean and Charlotte- their creativity, their passion, their intimacy, their SELVES- plain and simple. Some of the images can be found below, but for the entire series you can click here.

Alex was interviewed by Elle Magazine to gain insight on why he decided to photograph Sean and Charlotte, on how his photographs differed from other’s photographs of the couple, and on why much of his work revolves around couples. That interview can be found here.

Small Kings is a new book by photographer Alessandro Zuek Simonetti with text by Anicee Gaddis. Small Kings is a selection of black and white images taken at one of the most famous street parties in Jamaica. The images were taken only a few months before the ghetto of Tivoli Gardens made it to the front page of newspapers all over the world in May of 2010. The book was released in July and was printed in a limited numbered edition of 200 copies. To view a selection of images found in Small Kings, scroll down. To buy the book click here.

Additionally, to view a sample of works by Anicee Gaddis (which we encourage you to do!) click HERE!

“Restless City” is a  film by Andrew Dosunmu. The introduction to the movie poses one question for audiences: “You are a young, vibrant West African immigrant. There is music in your blood and fearlessness in your heart. The streets of New York are your home, where you can do anything you want. What you gonna do?”

And this is where the film takes off-  pulling viewers through a tale of hustlers, thugs, passion, love, and tragedy. It is the story of an African immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City, where music is his passion, life is a hustle, and falling in love is his greatest risk (IFP).

The film’s official website hosts more information about the film. Learn about those involved with the production of the film, view still images, read synopses, view a trailer, etc.

The film was included in the IFP’s (Independent Filmmaker Project) slate of projects for the 32nd Project Forum, which ran September 19-23 as part of the Independent Film Week.

So, let us know your thoughts- we’d love to hear your opinions!