Behind the lens

Adrian Boot is a British music photographer who first went to Jamaica to teach physics in the early 1970s and became one of the best-known documentarians of reggae. Working for NME, Melody Maker and later Island Records, he became an official photographer of Bob Marley, and co-authored (with Chris Salewicz) the authorized photo biography 'Bob Marley: Songs of Freedom' and 'Reggae Explosion: The Story of Jamaican Music'. Source note: adrianboot.co.uk, uDiscover Music, World Photography Organisation.

Beth Lesser is a Canadian photographer and writer who, with David Kingston, documented the birth and rise of Jamaican dancehall through the 1980s. The couple published the fanzine (later magazine) Reggae Quarterly from 1982 to 1988 after starting out with Augustus Pablo's Rockers International. Lesser authored books including 'King Jammy's', 'Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture' and a biography of Sugar Minott and Youth Promotion, and her photo archive is a key visual record of the era. Source note: bethlesser.com, Reggae Vibes, Itchy Silk.

Wayne Tippetts is a British social-documentary photographer who, from 1986, documented sound system and dancehall culture in Jamaica and London over roughly 17 years. His 'Inna Dancehall Style' project spotlighting Dancehall Queens and dancehall patrons was first published in The Guardian in 1993, and three of his Jamaican dancehall images were acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2015. Source note: waynetippetts.com, i-D, VP Records, Museum of Youth Culture.

David Corio (born 1960, London) is a British music photographer who, from 1978, shot for NME, The Face and Black Echoes and became one of the foremost documentarians of Black music, favouring black-and-white portraiture. He photographed reggae and dancehall in London and Jamaica across a quarter century, including a celebrated 1993 shoot at Arrows recording studio in Kingston, collected in 'Reggae in London 1980-2004' and 'The Black Chord'. Source note: davidcorio.com, Huck, Reggae Vibes.

Lee Jaffe (born 1950) is an American artist, photographer and musician who lived with Bob Marley in Jamaica in the 1970s, playing harmonica with the Wailers and serving as a tour photographer. He produced Peter Tosh's debut album 'Legalize It' (1976) and shot its celebrated cover photograph. His Marley-era images are widely published. Source note: Wikipedia, leejaffe.com, Interview Magazine.

Self-taught Jamaican photographer, nicknamed 'the eye of Jamaica', who launched the Afflicted Yard website in October 1999 with Ainsworth Weir, using early internet livestreaming and photography to document Kingston sound-system and street-dance culture for outlets including the BBC, Vogue and Vanity Fair; died of cancer in 2015.

Website launched in October 1999 by photographer Peter Dean Rickards and Ainsworth Weir, using early internet livestreaming and photography to present Kingston sound-system, street-dance and everyday life beyond tourist-industry cliche, alongside the magazine FIRST.

Brooklyn-born, Waterhouse-raised multimedia artist and archivist whose exhibitions, including 'No Gyal Can Test' (2020) and 'Soundclash', reassembled photographs and video passed down from the Ouch Crew community that raised him to build a visual record of 1990s-2000s Kingston dancehall style and street-party culture.

Jamaican music video director and filmmaker who broke through directing an early T.O.K. video and Beenie Man's VP Records-backed 'Dude,' then gained international attention for Damian Marley's 2005 video 'Welcome to Jamrock.' He co-founded Jamaica's first cable station, Music Plus, served as creative consultant to Jamaica News Network and Reggae Entertainment Television, and in 2007 founded his own production company, The Guru Films.

The Guru Films is the Jamaican production company founded in 2007 by music video director Ras Kassa, building on his earlier breakthrough videos for T.O.K., Beenie Man and Damian Marley to take on wider film, documentary and commercial commissions.