National Geographic Live: Coral Kingdoms & Empires of Ice

press release: National Geographic Live, National Geographic’s touring speaker series, and Overture Center for the Arts are proud to announce the 2017/18 season kicks off with “Coral Kingdoms and Empires of Ice” with David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes, a photographic team of National Geographic underwater photographers. The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Tues., Nov. 14 in Capitol Theater with a Q&A immediately following the performance.

Doubilet has a long and intimate vision into the sea. He began snorkeling at age 8 at summer camp in the Adirondack and by age 12 he was making pictures underwater using a Brownie Hawkeye camera stuffed into a rubber bag. The bag filled with air and it was like trying to submerge the Hindenburg. The pictures were barely recognizable. David has long since mastered the techniques of working with water and light to become one of the world’s most celebrated underwater photographers and a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine, where he has published nearly 70 stories since his first assignment in 1971.

Doubilet has spent five decades under the surface in the far corners of the world from interior Africa, remote tropical coral reefs, rich temperate seas and recent projects in the northern and southern ice.  David’s personal challenge is to create a visual voice for the world’s oceans and to connect people to the incredible beauty and silent devastation happening within the invisible world below.

Hayes is an aquatic biologist and photojournalist specializing in natural history and marine environments. Hayes and Doubilet collaborate as a photographic team above and below water on project development, story production, feature articles and books.

National Geographic assignments have taken them around the globe from Africa’s Okavango Delta, through tropical and temperate seas to the poles. Recent projects have found them in the remote corners of the Great Barrier Reef, under oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, swimming among congregations of 500-pound goliath grouper and submerged in the ice with harp seal mother and pups.

Hayes is the editor and author of numerous articles on marine environments, with images appearing in countless books, advertising campaigns and publications such as National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Sport Diver, DIVE Magazine, Diver, People, Alert Diver and Ocean Geographic. She is co-author / photographer for Face to Face with Sharks by National Geographic Books and an honorary editor for Ocean Geographic magazine. 

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 a variety of cities around the world, including, Seattle, Tampa, Los Angeles, Florence 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.

Tickets are $45-$35 (10+ tickets purchased together receive group discount) and are available in person at the Overture Center Ticket Office (201 State Street), online at overture.org or by phone at 608.258.4141.