From Doctor Disco to MillerFoto Photography: How a DJ Revolutionized Youth Sports and School Photography

Before New Orleans knew the name MillerFoto Photography, the city knew a different legend: Doctor Disco. Eric Miller wasn’t behind a camera back then — he was behind two turntables, driving packed dance floors in the 1970s with a stack of vinyl and enough energy to keep a nightclub alive until sunrise.

If it weren't for having kids, he’d probably still be inside a smoky booth somewhere, reading a crowd and dropping the exact track that made strangers scream like lifelong friends.

But when the clubs went quiet, Eric didn’t fade out.He simply changed stages.

From Nightclub Speakers to Stadium Sound

Eric didn’t walk away from live entertainment — he leveled it up. His instinct for engineering emotion through sound led him straight into a new career: building massive sound systems for stadiums, theme parks, and casinos.

Not backyard speakers. Not small gigs.

We’re talking the Superdome. New Orleans COnvention Center, Harrah’s Casino. Places where tens of thousands of people expect the sound to hit them like thunder.

The disco DJ didn’t die.He just went bigger.

The Little League Photo That Sparked a Sports Revolution

In 2001, Eric stepped away from the travel and long nights to spend more time with his family in Kenner. Typical dad life: ball practices, snack bar runs, folding chairs on Saturday mornings.

Then the team photos arrived.

Overpriced. Boring. Cookie-cutter poses. No personality. No pride. Not one ounce of the energy those kids played with.

There was nothing sports about them.

So, like any creative troublemaker, Eric grabbed a camera… “just for fun.”

He took the team photo and then added something no photographer in youth sports was doing:

• Team graphics

• Year

• Player names

• Colors

• Logos

• Design that felt like ESPN, not a school portrait

Parents flipped. Coaches called. Leagues started asking:

“Can you do ours next?”

Kids finally looked like athletes — not props in front of a wrinkled backdrop.

Photos That Fundraise

Most youth leagues are always broke. They hustle for uniforms, equipment, refs, tournament fees. Eric didn’t want to just sell pictures — he wanted to help teams win off the field.

So he flipped the model:

A percentage of every photo sale went back to the league.

And that changed everything.Leagues finally saw photography not as a vendor expense — but as revenue.

Better pictures. Better graphics. More pride. More money.

That’s how MillerFoto Sports grew.Not with ads.Not with gimmicks.With value the league could feel.

A Garage Print Lab and a Confused Fuji Technician

Eric wasn’t about to let a lab somewhere across the country touch his reputation. If the quality was going to carry his name, the prints had to be done in-house. So he bought a commercial Fuji lab printer… and put it in his garage.

When the Fuji tech showed up to install it, he thought he had the wrong address. Imagine a technician expecting a warehouse and instead seeing a lawnmower and bikes.

But that garage lab became the heartbeat of MillerFoto Sports.What started as a hobby now had employees.Employees with keys to his house.

And that’s when the “real office” idea became impossible to ignore.

MillerFoto Moves Out and Levels Up

The first commercial location opened on Hickory Avenue in Harahan — a 1,300-square-foot space that felt like stepping into a dream. Phones ringing. Photos printing. Sports leagues calling one after another.

Eric’s personal cell number was on the website then — and still is. Because if there’s a scheduling issue, a parent complaint, or a last-minute change, leagues want a real person, not a voicemail maze.

Soon the office grew so fast the team had to work in a trailer behind the building. People literally bumped elbows. That’s what happens when you grow faster than expected.

Now the new location is on the way, bigger, bolder, and built to handle what’s next: dominating the sports photography market.

The DJ Never Left — He Just Switched Crowds

Doctor Disco still exists. Eric still DJs events, still hosts his free internet radio show, still drops tracks for fun — not for rent money. Because music isn’t a job for him. It’s his identity.

It’s the same identity that drives MillerFoto Sports today:

• Every portrait should have energy.

• Every athlete should feel important.

• Every team should feel like they matter.

That first Little League photo wasn’t an accident.It was a remix. A redesign. A revolution.

Just like disco.

Any By The Way - you can hear his Disco Music Radio Station. www.NewOrleansDiscoRadio.com

Final Thought

Eric didn’t switch from music to photography.He just kept doing what he does best:

Take something ordinary, make it unforgettable, and let the people feel it.

That’s MillerFoto Photography and how one DJ changed youth sports and school photography — one team and class at a time.