Art & Gator Magazine Feature
Michael Potthast Captures Old Masters Classic Composition
Written by Bob Gernert
Few honors are valued more than recognition of your work by your peers. One of the highest compliments that can be paid a professional photographer is to have his or her work featured on the cover of, what else, Professional Photographer. Add to that a feature entitled, “Portrait of a Legacy, Michael Potthast Carries on the Family Tradition,” and you have a special tribute to four generations of family artisans.
Notably, Potthast’s forefathers, German immigrants, founded the renowned Potthast Brothers Furniture Company in 1892. There are antique pieces of the company’s furniture in the White House today. “Part of what my great-grandfather did before that furniture business came around was photography,” says Potthast. “I’ve got 8×10 glass negatives he’d taken of the Great Baltimore fire in 1904.”
The cover photo, “Her Majesty,” is part of a series Potthast is creating. It has won many awards. He notes that his late father, William “Bill” Potthast, was stirred by the classic compositions of the old masters. It was that classic influence that led Mike to create “Her Majesty” as a tribute to his father. (Portrait styling and makeup by Lynda Whitney and Elvin Velez.) Cover design by Debbie Todd, art director at Professional Photographer Magazine.
Potthast has been recognized as a Florida Top 10 photographer two years in a row, and won Best of Show Portrait for the Florida Professional Photographers. As evidence of his expertise, Mike brings the classic influence — and a bit of whimsy — to the portrait below of Doak, the faithful companion of Chad and Keira Lennox.
Mike Potthast says of the recognition, “It is an honor to be featured nationally on the cover of Professional Photographer Magazine. The magazine includes a great article about the studio and a deserving tribute to my father who I wish were here to share this with me. My dad and mom established this business in 1964 and built the foundation I work hard to live up to. Thanks and congratulations to my team at the studio and my family that permits me to put in the long hours.”
His late father, William “Bill” Potthast, was stirred by the classic compositions of the old masters. Potthast remembers an art book his father kept in the lobby of his studio to illustrate classic portraiture.
