In Photos

Updated April 23, 2024

Michele Miller
What’sWhat New Port Richey

I have been taking pictures for years – ever since I was a kid and my older sister handed off her black and white Polaroid Swinger camera. I was enthralled and found a more comfortable place behind the camera than in front of it while documenting life as it happened for me and others in my inner and outer circles.

I’ve been through a few models since the days of black and white – on to 110 and 35 mm film cameras and onto digital. My camera is still a close companion – easy to grab when there’s a tender moment to capture, a bird in the backyard, a landscape to share, or in some cases, a silly notion that I think maybe someone might get in a way that elicits a smile.

We’ll see how it goes.

Now Onward 🙂

“Flashback”

My older sister took this photo with the camera I would later inherit. That’s me (top right) posing with a couple of siblings and a family friend in the 1960s.

Where we’ve been…..

March – April 2024

A production of “Silent Sky’ featuring Angela Sarabia, Christy Adams, Michelle Hakes, Callie Gray and Mark Dupuy was held in March at the Richey Suncoast Theatre in downtown NPR.
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER, March 15, 2024

Cindy’s Pet’s Strawberry Fest – March 2, 2024

We set up a booth at the worthwhile festival and fundraiser for Cindy’s Pets, a long-running local non-profit that raises funds and collects food donations for pets of seniors enrolled in the Meals & Wheels Program in Pasco County

Taste of NPR Goes Retro

New Port Richey Main Street is definitely in the swing of things with organizers and volunteers working to bring a variety of downtown events, most recently the 1970s-themed “Taste of New Port Richey” held on February 8. We might have seen you outside the historic Hacienda where the What’s What NPR table was parked or maybe I caught sight of you while I was out and about snapping pics. Check out the photo slide show below.

Winter Holiday Scenes

Window Dressing by Sean Fulton, owner of Sip on Grand in downtown NPR. He was no doubt getting ready for the 6th Annual Sip Deck Your Cart Christmas Golf Cart Ride he hosts each year, this year on Sunday, December 17.
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

A Christmas Carol – Before the Show

It sure is pretty wonderful seeing local theatre productions happening at the historical Richey Suncoast. Particularly fun are the shows that bring in and nurture budding talent, such as this month’s production of A Christmas Carol. I popped in while attending the annual Waissail About Town event that started there and managed to get a few shots before dress rehearsal. Took me back to the days when photographing these rehearsals for theatre previews and reviews was part of the job at The Tampa Bay Times.

During mic-ups and sound checks, Jess Glass who is directing the production, was happy to report swift ticket sales along with the fact that Sunday’s show had already been sold out. If you haven’t got your tickets, you can do so here.

Get your tickets if you haven’t already – the Sunday matinee is already sold out.
Behind the scenes. A cast member gets “mic’d up” while younger cast members chat it up during rehearsal for “A Christmas Carol.” PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER
“Scrooge Soundcheck” during Tuesday’s dress rehearsal for “A Christmas Carol.” Photo | Michele Miller
Cast members wait of sound checks during dress rehearsal for “A Christmas Carol” to be held December 15-17 at the Richey Suncoast Theatre.
The cast of “A Christmas Carol” gathers outside the stage door of the Richey Suncoast Theatre for a group portrait. The local production will be held December 15-17 at the downtown theatre. PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

Richey Suncoast Orchestra Dress Rehearsal

One of my favorite things to photograph is musicians and their instruments. Whether the high school marching band performing at halftime, the duo singing and playing guitar at the local tikki bar or brewery, or at a full-fledged orchestra’s last rehearsal before their Sunday afternoon concert. That was the case when I was granted the opportunity to move about on stage as the Richey Community Orchestra did a run-through for their November concert. Disclaimer here – the old man recently joined the chorus and you might catch him in a couple of shots. My purpose was to get some “proper photos” for future use when promoting their upcoming concerts. On reflection, there’s photographic documentation that captures some of what goes on behind the scenes at a dress rehearsal- the bass player tying his bow tie as the conductor starts, stage hands moving about in the background, the percussionist with a pencil behind the ear making notes in his sheet music, musicians looking for and marking their place. For more photos check out the slide show below

Richey Suncoast Orchestra conductor John Marcellus commences with a final rehearsal before the November concert held at the Center for the Arts at Ricer Ridge. PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

“The Pilgrims Get Booted.”

The post-Thanksgiving tradition commences and it really is a Black Friday event for the Publix Pilgrims now designated to the back of the kitchen cabinet as soldiers of Christmas take their tabletop post.

“Black Friday Breakfast”

“Fall Food Forest”

A sure sign of fall up north and an incredibly beautiful sight to catch is the morning haze lifting over the area’s cranberry bogs during harvest season. Here, in Florida, fall is celebrated by a cranberry of another sort – the Hibiscus acetosella familiarly known as the Cranberry Hibiscus that lands on many a southern table.