Who doesn't know him? Michel Zumbrunn is one of those photographers whose work you come across again and again and usually recognize immediately that it is by him.
He was born in Bern in 1935 and attended school in Zurich. At the age of 13, he decided to become an architect, later changing his career aspirations to cameraman in film.
Instead of studying at the ETH, he opted for an apprenticeship as a photographer with Felix Guniat (advertising, fashion), before becoming an assistant to Max Roth.
In 1960 he traveled to Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and back via New York. In 1961 he opened his own photo studio for advertising and fashion in Zurich. He received interesting commissions for cosmetics, cigarettes, beer, interior design and editorial fashion.
In 1979 he moved to Fällanden and moved into a larger studio. He became heavily involved in car photography and developed his own style.
In 1980, he received a major commission from the Roth-Händle tobacco company to document the most beautiful cars in the world. This was followed by work trips to the most important collections in the USA, Germany, France and Italy. An extensive archive of photos of exclusive classic cars was created, which led to close cooperation with car magazines in France, Germany, the USA, Japan and Switzerland.
Zumbrunn has worked on many books and was also able to realize a book series "Auto Legends". From 2014 - 2016 he photographed a collection of more than 200 exhibits, mostly rare cars from the years 1910 - 1980, as part of a major commission in California.
Today he is still actively involved as a car photographer, also in today's car advertising, in collaboration with Heinz Unger, Fotohalle, Zurich / Schlieren.
As part of the "Beauty of Streamline" exhibition, Michel Zumbrunn has been showing some of his works at the Barmelweid Gallery in the Barmelweid Clinic and Care Center since August 20, 2016.
Further information can be found on the Barmelweid Gallery website.
