Michael Fund

Wedding | Last Updated: January 3, 2022

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Hi, I’m Michael. I am a wedding photographer based in Bern, Switzerland. Inspired by depth, nostalgia, and authenticity I have created wedding stories since 2019.

As a pure romantic, I craft my photography work around my couples, trying to capture them uniquely but as they really are.

Growing up in a difficult family situation my stronghold was and still is my grandma. Going through her photo and wedding albums and talking about her past, I came to realise what photography meant to both of us.

Moments make photography, not gear but it certainly does help. I am certainly not the biggest gear nerd, although I would never dispute the importance of having the right gear for each shoot. I believe you can create a meaningful body of work with every camera system.

I would never trade my Canon Mark III’s as their low light strength compared to non-professional gear is just mind-blowing! As my photography is more often than not of a documentary nature, I love being able to capture moments in natural light. I rarely use my flash and probably the only time is when the dancing starts.

My main goal is to document the day and create memories for the couple, their family and eventually their grandchildren. Our fragmented memories rely on our senses. We remember not only images but smells, sounds and emotions.

This is how I like to create my wedding stories trying to bring this all together. I always bring equipment for recording sound and find myself stepping more and more into video and or a combination of video, gifs and photography with sound.

To me, mixed media comes as close to creating a lasting and emotionally touching memory.

I also like alternative ways of telling wedding stories. Perhaps I will interview wedding guests in the future, or document a whole wedding in polaroids. Although I love film, I never really got into film photography, except for some polaroid photography. I am a digital child through and through but love the aesthetics and raw feeling of real film and printed products.

We often forget that film transports so much nostalgia as we relate it to the past. In fifty to hundred years from now, all the digital film presets will probably feel nostalgic for the next generation. Being born in 1990 the first digital camcorders are nostalgic to my eye.

Cameras

Canon EOS 5D Mark III – I started with the Canon system and continue to stick with it. It’s robust and never failed me so far. I am looking forward to diving into the mirrorless world, but for now, I am using Mark III. I love the fast autofocus and the low light quality of the images.

Polaroid now+ – I also use a polaroid camera for instant pictures. Sometimes I will collect them throughout the wedding day and send them to the couple in a beautiful wooden box.

Lenses

When it comes to lenses I am quite minimalistic. In the good old capa-esque fashion I like to be close to my subjects. I rarely use zoom lenses above 80mm preferring to shoot either 35mm or 50mm.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM – I like the 24-70mm for its versatility. Being able to shoot 35mm and switch to 50mm in an instant. As wedding photographers, we often have to deal with cramped spaces, which made the option to zoom out to 24mm gold.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM – I started out with this 50mm lens after finding it online but with its slow autofocus capability on the Mark III I only really use it for portraits.

If my budget allows it, I rent one of these lenses for a wedding day.
Canon 50mm f/1.2 USM
Canon 85mm f/1.2 USM
Canon 35mm F/1.4 USM

Lights

Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT – on an average wedding day I don’t bring lights except for the flash, which I mostly use during the dancing stage with a dragged shutter speed.

Aladdin ALL-IN 2 – for other work I like this LED light panel. They are super light and bright enough for most of what I do. They are easily installed and you can even change the light colour.

Audio

There is just something mesmerizing when hearing sound along with your photographs.
ZOOM H5 – to record audio, I use this with an XLR-cable and a RØDE microphone.
RØDE NTG5 – great for outdoors and fine for bigger indoor venues. I have also recorded interviews or spoken vows with this one as well. I’m not a sound engineer, but for me the quality is superb.

Video

DJI Mini 2 – I use the mini for landscape videos. While I would like to upgrade at some point, I am super happy with the quality it produces. It is so light you can literally take it anywhere!

Software

Adobe Suite – as I also do graphic design and video, I love the Adobe suite with all its features.

I always try to keep my equipment as minimalistic as possible but if you have any recommendations towards gear that could help me then I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions regarding my multi-media approach then please contact me.

I will soon be uploading examples of my multimedia work onto my website for all to see!

www.michaelfund.com | @michael_fund