After studying art at the University of Brighton, where he specialised in painting from the figure and the landscape, Mark Power travelled extensively and accidently fell in love with photography. Then followed many years of freelancing for several British magazines, newspapers and charities, alongside a number of more personal projects, until he began teaching in 1992. Power then distanced himself from the media and began 'The Shipping Forecast', a poetic response to the maritime weather reports broadcast daily on BBC radio .