I got a really great chance to see some local bands including F1rst Class Citizen, Fallrise, and others, open for Taproot.  I’ve been a Taproot fan for a long time–“Poem” grabbed me the first time I heard it and wouldn’t let go of me.  Stephen Richards’ vocals have always stood out to me, with a really unique style and tone.

Needless to say I was extremely stoked to see them at The Boardwalk.  They were spot on, and killed it, playing to a sadly not packed room.  But that made my task of picture-takin’ easier, so it works for me.

This is one of my favorite shots of the whole night.  He looked over, saw my camera up, held that pose looking right at me until the flash popped a second or two later.  I have to give major props to any musician–especially those in the “big leagues” who will deliberately act for the camera.  And Stephen did it a LOT for many people with anywhere from cameraphones to more “pro-looking” setups.  He even grabbed a fan’s camera from someone in the front and started taking pictures of the fans!  Dude puts on one hell of a show, that’s for sure.  Seemed like a really nice guy.