Born in Maine, Mark Ford received his photographic training in Dallas, Texas, under the tutelage of the architectural photographer Carolyn Brown. While in Dallas, he joined a small group of photographers associated with the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture and began photographing the city’s historic architecture, a project that would continue for four years and lead to a number of exhibitions.

Having studied and taught philosophy, philosophical themes run through Ford’s work. In particular, an interest in picturing the existential predicament is seen in the recent photographs of Portland, “scenes” with a conspicuous foreground of asphalt that appear as stage sets awaiting an actor or suggesting the lingering remnants of a human act. Also in the existentialist vain, his current mixed media work explores the impetus for action after a metaphorical “stripping away” of meaning and context.

As a freelance graphic designer, Mark Ford has designed publications for a number of organizations in southern Maine, interned in the Publications department of the Portland Museum of Art, and served as art director for USM's arts and literature journal, Words & Images. He currently teaches English as a second language in Portland, where he lives with his wife and daughter.