NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE! Comes to the Broad Stage

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents the first event of the National Geographic Live series during The Broad Stage's 2018-19 Season - Social by Nature with biologist-turned-photographer, Ronan Donovan. The event includes a post-show Q&A with Donovan.

Social by Nature asks: What's a human? We are, at our core, social mammals. We build relationships, communicate, reproduce, establish territories, and adapt to shrinking resources. In these ways, we're no different than other social mammals. Chimpanzees, wolves, and gorillas are among the most charismatic of the social mammals we know. We identify with them as species, groups, and even as named individuals. They're also under threat. Ronan Donovan will speak about his work in documenting these animals and what we, as fellow social mammals, can learn from them.

Ronan Donovan's love of the natural world was born, as he was, in rural Vermont. He has traveled to all seven continents, with experiences ranging from documenting wild chimpanzees in Uganda to chronicling the life of one of Yellowstone's iconic species, the gray wolf for the May 2016 Yellowstone issue of National Geographic magazine. Ronan's most recent story for National Geographic focused on the legacy of Dian Fossey and the conservation status of mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. His film work has aired on PBS's Nature and on the BBC, he is a two-time finalist for Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and is one of PDN's 2017 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. In 2017, he was also accepted into The Photo Society of National Geographic.

National Geographic Live is the live events division of National Geographic. With a broad roster of talent including renowned photographers, scientists, authors, filmmakers and adventurers, National Geographic Live's critically acclaimed programs have connected with audiences worldwide for over a century. Currently, National Geographic Live events are held in more than cities around the world, including, Seattle, Tampa, Los Angeles, and Calgary. In each of these cities, speakers share behind-the-scenes stories from the front lines of exploration onstage alongside stunning imagery and gripping footage. For more information, visit natgeolive.com.

In 2011, Ronan Donovan was researching chimpanzees in Uganda's Kibale National Park for Harvard professor Richard Wrangham when he made the images that helped him establish a career as a conservation photographer. Part of his work involved climbing fig trees to observe the chimps, and he brought his camera with him, creating a series of photographs of the primates from above. Wrangham sent the images to wildlife photojournalist Tim Laman, who put Donovan in touch with Kathy Moran, National Geographic's senior editor for natural history. That put Donovan on Moran's radar, but it wasn't until 2014 that Moran asked if he'd like to try assisting photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols on a project about Yellowstone National Park. Moran initially gave Donovan a two-week contract to see if he and Nichols clicked. He ended up assisting Nichols for several months until a need arose to cover Yellowstone's gray wolves as part of the same project, Nichols pushed for Donovan to get the assignment. Donovan spent the next year on that work, which was published in the May 2016 issue alongside stories by Nichols, Erika Larsen, David Guttenfelder and others.

Donovan taught himself the technical aspects of photography and filmmaking while working for eight years on a series of wildlife biology projects. In 2013, he decided to pursue photography and filmmaking full time because he thought he could have "more of an impact through visual storytelling" than he could as a biologist. His wildlife research work has helped him, however. "Knowing your subject in general, [in] any type of photography you're doing, is going to make the work you do much more successful and much more powerful, because you know the moments that are unique," he says.

At Moran's urging, Donovan has worked to expand his storytelling skills beyond wildlife. "You can't address conservation if you don't address the human interaction," he says. He took a Missouri Photo Workshop in 2015, and was on his way to another workshop in Kenya when he spoke with PDN. With the help of a grant from the National Geographic Society, he's also pursuing a story in Uganda about how deforestation is creating conflict between chimpanzees and humans.

For more information visit natgeotv.com.