Jamaican photographer Lindsay Donald, was born in Kingston in 1952.

After arriving in England in 1962 to live with his mother in Harrow, he left school in 1968 and got his first job working at Kodak where he developed a love for the art of photography.

In 1972, Donald went to live in Sweden for two years and returned to Jamaica in 1974 and quickly got a job as a runner on the set of THE MARIJUANA AFFAIR, which was being shot at the time in Kingston and which starred Calvin Lockhart.

It was during this time that Donald first met Marley at 56 Hope Road. After one year in Jamaica, Donald left for a tour of Africa and spent four years travelling through the Sahara dessert, teaching in Ghana, photographing the Nigerian FESTAC festival and also spending time being incarcerated in detention because of his friendship with the celebrated Nigerian musician,Fela Kuti.

In 1977, he returned to Jamaica and with his friend Janhoi Jaja, another well known Jamaican photographer, established the Diplomat photo studio which in the mid seventies, became a mecca for musicians,artists and fellow photographers.

During this time, Donald built up his friendship with Bob, sister Rita,the Wailers and was one of the first photographer to photograph the Melody Makers when they released thier first single in 1980.
The image on the left was the first publicity photo taken of the Melody Makers, this was in Newcastle Jamica in 1980 for the Children playing in the street album
- from right to left (Cedella, Ziggy, Stephen and Sharon)

Lindsay was also the photographer on Bob Marley's foray into publishing, when in 1980 the Rasta newspaper SURVIVAL, was published. Sadly, after only three edition SURVIVAL became defunct although it was briefly revived in 1983.

This image on the left has Mortimer Plano in it.
Mortimer Plano was the man who taught Bob Marley about Rastafarianism

Donald accompanied Marley on his last tour to the United States in September 1980 and remained there after Marley's untill 1983. Whilst in America. he personally met and photographed celebrities as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Graham Nash, Muhamed Ali, Rick James and at one time he even lost all his possessions in Joplin, Missourri, while touring the States.

Donald returned to London in 1985 and for six years worked for the Caribbean Times newspaper, one of the biggest black owned papers in Britian and he also taught photography for one year on one of London's most notorious estates, The Broadwater Farm in Tottenham.

The photographs seen here on this site represents a quarter of a century of his work and a testament to his endurance in maintaining the spirit of black culture.