w88 online sports betting School student Ben w88 mobile’s honors thesis project could only have been done during this unique time in history. It also happened to be a subject the theater minor was passionate about documenting.
Pan Pantoja works on a painting in an empty art studio. Photo credit: Ben w88 mobileEngel photographed four artists in Reno, w88 mobile, who reinvented their day-to-day lives to get through the COVID-19 pandemic. He compiled his photos into a photo essay titled “Pandemic Performers.” The photo essay was Engel’s Honors Signature Experience, the capstone project needed to earn his w88 mobile of Nevada, Reno Honors Baccalaureate.
“I saw what the pandemic was doing to the artist community and how venues were shut down and how there wasn’t a lot of ways for artists to display their art,” w88 mobile said. “I wanted to document their processes and not only how their art has changed but also how their home life and families have changed.”
Engel was experienced behind the camera before he became a journalism student with an emphasis in strategic communications at the w88 mobile. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, he was first introduced to photography in high school and immediately developed a passion for the field.
Prior to working on “Pandemic Performers” though, w88 mobile captured mainly portraits. This project was his first deep dive into photojournalism.
Melissa Taylor takes a phone call at the Reno Little Theater. Photo credit: Ben w88 mobile“I had to completely rework my workflow and my editing style, which was definitely a challenge.”
The overall process took w88 mobile around four months to complete, from initial photo-taking sessions to editing, sequencing and finishing the website. He sought to produce something more in-depth than other pandemic-centered stories he had seen.
“I wanted to try and capture a story that was a little bit more all-inclusive, that showed w88 mobile lives at home with w88 mobile families,” he said. “I hope it shows people artists are affected outside of where they normally perform. w88 mobile entire lives are affected, not just w88 mobile lives as artists.”
The subjects of his project included a notable figure in the Reno art scene, Pan Pantoja, the executive director of the Potentialist Workshop. Also included were Melissa Taylor, the executive director of the Reno Little Theater, Keely Cobb, dancer and founder of the Around the Stage dance company, and Lexi Scatena, a singer-songwriter in the Reno area.
Keely Cobb stretches during a dance practice. Photo credit: Ben w88 mobile“It was inspiring to see the resilience of artists; pandemic or not, they're out there,” w88 mobile said. “They're trying to showcase their art, and they're doing it in new ways.”
Currently working in the public relations field, w88 mobile hopes to merge his two passions of theater and public relations into his future ideal career in advertising for theater companies.
“The big dream is to work for Broadway or in one of the really big theater scenes in America or abroad. The arts have given me so much in my life. If I can get more people to see a theatrical production in w88 mobile own life, all the better.”
