Featured in Today and Tonight Magazine
By Mary Joye
July 12th, 2011 - For Today and Tonight Magazine
The windows of Potthast Studios have an eye-catching array of large movie star photographs from recognizable film scenes. But they aren't the movie stars they appear to be.
They are local people photographed by award-winning Mike Potthast.
From his 7,000-square-foot state-of-the-art studio, Potthast speaks of the inspiration.
“Clients come in and look like someone famous. I file that in my mind. Our creative staff plans four windows a year, and this is what we came up with.”
That staff consists of Mike's wife, Amy Potthast, Robin Ireland, Beverly Gustafson and Lisa Anne Klein.
A large surreal portrait of a woman in all shades, textures, and layers of red, including her voluminous hair, is titled “Ruby.” It recently earned Potthast Best of Show from the prestigious Professional Photography Guild of Mid-Florida.
Across the studio expanse is another similar ethereal portrait in complementary shades of green.
Potthast humbly remarks, “It wouldn't be fair not to mention those who help me create these images. Lynda Whitney is the stylist, and Elvin Velez did the make-up.”
Velez of Profiles, Etc. Salon shares, “Mike is the nicest guy ever. It's perfect harmony to work with him.”
His work is diverse and doesn't appear digitally manipulated. He concurs, “I think the focus has gotten away from getting it right in the camera to begin with instead of trying to create something imaginary after the fact.”
We talk a bit more about digital and he continues, “There's a fidelity to visual like audio. When it's captured in the camera correctly there's a quality that you don't get sometimes with digital.”
Potthast has state-of-the-art equipment but also has older 4 x 5-inch film cameras and can transition among his equipment according to his vision.
Like all masters, he began early. Three generations of accomplished photographers stand behind him. His father, Bill Potthast, moved to Winter Haven from Baltimore in 1964 and opened this studio. Sadly, he recently passed away, but his lessons remain.
“My father was a master of putting people at ease in front of the camera,” Potthast recalls. “It's one thing to learn about photography as a craft in school…but what they can't teach you is how to work with people and capture who they are. Watching him work with his clients and the compositions he would use to make an image or portrait flow are things he taught me.”
Potthast carries the family tradition in sharing his passion.
“Photography is an art form that uses a camera instead of a paintbrush. But you're still telling a story.”
When asked how he deals with camera-shy clients, he explains, “You might want to play that into the story. Not everyone wants to be flamboyant. Dad taught me to meet with people before a shoot to get to know them. Everything depends on the purpose of the portrait.”
Potthast graduated from the finest photographic program in the region at The Southeast Center for Photographic Studies at Daytona State College.
“When I went to school,” Potthast shares, “I already knew about the business but needed a fundamental basis for the technical versus the aesthetic.”
He transcends this knowledge into related work.
“The same principles of composition and lighting that apply to still photography are the same for video. There's a motion and editing aspect and you have to think about audio. It's a much more technical craft. The time involved is much more in depth.”
He is currently working on a Centennial video for Winter Haven. He cites his hometown as “a great place to raise a family.” His daughters Olivia, 10, and Isabelle, 7, are treasures to him, and wife Amy is learning photography from him.
Potthast's work is split between commercial and portrait work. He compares and contrasts the genres.
“I love both forms of photography. About the time I'm tired of traveling on the road with commercial work I'm looking forward shooting in the studio. It's a great balance. I learn from every shoot.”
When asked about learning from mistakes, he remarks, “Some of my favorite shots happened by total accident. It captures a moment and tells a story. A light may not sync correctly and you get a certain effect you weren't planning on, but it works so well you might try it again on purpose.”
He discusses the importance of light.
“It's something you learn over time…It's a mental process. When you look at a new shot, you recognize light pattern, direction, quality and things you know, but I think it takes a while for the eye to hone in on lighting. I thought when I got out of school I knew lighting, and then a couple of years later I understand it better. Then a couple more years and I understand it more. I don't know when it stops. It keeps developing.”
When asked what he would say to amateurs who just want to take a better photograph, he educates, “Photography means capturing light. You have to apply it to the subject.”
If you'd like a portrait of your family story or just want to see the windows to the photographer's world, stop by Potthast Studios at 234 West Central Avenue in Winter Haven.
www.potthaststudios.com will show you a gallery of his work and tell the story of his studio.
