photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs.
Duties and types of photograp ...
. He is a member of
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
and Professor of Photography in
The Faculty of Arts and Architecture
Founded as the Brighton School of Art in 1859, the University of Brighton School of Art and Media is an organisational part of the University of Brighton, with courses in the creative arts, visual communication, media, craft and fashion and text ...
at the
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is a public university based in Brighton on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieved university status in 1992.
T ...
.Biographical profile
Power has been awarded the Terence Donovan Award and an Honorary Fellowship from the
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...
.
Life and work
Power was born in
Harpenden
Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in 1959. He studied
Fine Art
In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...
at
Brighton Polytechnic
The University of Brighton is a public university based in Brighton on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieved university status in 1992.
Th ...
(1978–1981), and then travelled extensively, discovering a love for
photography
Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
along the way. Upon his return, he worked as a freelance for several UK publications and charities.
Power happened to be in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
on 9 November 1989 and photographed the
fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...
. He later published the photographs in the book ''Die Mauer ist Weg!'' (2014).
Between 1992 and 1996, he embarked on ''The Shipping Forecast'' — a project that involved travelling to and photographing all 31 areas covered by the
Shipping Forecast
The ''Shipping Forecast'' is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The for ...
broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
. This project was published as a book and was a touring exhibition across the UK and France. He used a
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
campervan
A campervan, also referred to as a camper, caravanette, motorhome or Recreational vehicle, RV (recreational vehicle) in North America, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term describes vans th ...
as his mode of transport for the project, echoing the late
Tony Ray-Jones
Tony Ray-Jones (7 June 1941 – 13 March 1972) was an English photographer.
Life
Born Holroyd Anthony Ray-Jones in Wells, Somerset, he was the youngest son of Raymond Ray-Jones (1886–1942), a painter and etcher who died when Tony was only ...
, whose work has similarities in style and meaning to Power's.
Between 1997 and 2000, Power was commissioned to document the
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millen ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, a project that resulted in another touring exhibition and the accompanying book, ''Superstructure.'' Around this time his technical methods changed and he began to use colour film and a large format camera. This was followed by ''The Treasury Project,'' published in 2002, which recorded the renovation of the UK government's treasury building on Whitehall, London.
In 2003, he undertook another personal project, using the '' London A–Z'' map as inspiration. The work, titled ''26 Different Endings,'' is a collection of images examining the areas on the outer boundaries of the map. The project was exhibited at the Centre of Visual Art at the University of Brighton, and was published as a book in 2007.
Between 1988 and 2002 Power was a member of Network Photographers. In 2002 he became a nominee of
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
, an associate in 2005 and a full member in 2007.
Between 1992 and 2004 he was Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Brighton, becoming Professor of Photography in 2004, until the present.
From 2004, he spent five years working on ''The Sound of Two Songs,'' on Poland's first five years as a member of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
.
Between 2006 and 2010 Power collaborated with poet Daniel Cockrill to document the rise in English nationalism. The pair undertook a series of
road trip
A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance Travel, journey traveled by a car or a motorcycle.
History
First road trips by automobile
The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by the automobile took place in German Em ...
s around England, culminating in the book ''Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment.''
In 2011 he undertook a commission from Multistory to make work that explored the social landscape of the
Black Country
The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...
through photography and film. He made urban landscapes; a series of photographs of elegant footwear; and a series of short films made in
beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas.
Beauty treatme ...
s,
tattoo parlour
A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo shop", "tattoo studio" or "tattoo parlour". Tattoo artists usually learn their craft via an ...
s and nightclubs.
In 2014 Power began a self-publishing
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
, Globtik Books, with the publication of his book ''Die Mauer ist Weg!.''
view camera
A view camera is a large format, large-format camera in which the large format lens, lens forms an erect image, inverted image on a ground glass, ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed, composed, and focused, then the ...
, after he worked with
large format
Large format photography refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120 film, 120- and 220-roll film), and much la ...
film for many years. More recently he diversified into short film making.
Photoworks
Photoworks is a UK development agency dedicated to photography, based in Brighton and Hove, Brighton, England and founded in 1995.
, 2002. . Edition of 1500 copies, of which only 500 were made available for public sale.
* ''26 Different Endings''. Brighton: Photoworks, 2007. . Edition of 1000 copies.
* ''Signes''. Gulbenkian Foundation exhibition catalogue, 2008. .
* ''The Sound of Two Songs''. Brighton: Photoworks, 2010. . Edition of 2000 copies.
* ''MASS''. Gost, 2013. . Edition of 750 copies.
* ''Swap Shop - Postcards from America IV: Florida''. London: Magnet Publishing, 2013.
*''Die Mauer ist Weg!.'' Brighton and Hove: self-published / Globtik Books, 2014. . Edition of 1000 copies.
*''Icebreaker.'' Another Place, 2018. . Edition of 600 copies.
*''Maintenance.'' Kyoto, Japan: Seigensha, 2018. .
*''Good Morning, America (Volume I).'' London: Gost, 2019. .
*''Good Morning, America (Volume II).'' London: Gost, 2019. .
*''Good Morning, America (Volume II).'' London: Gost, 2020. .
*''Terre à l'Amende''. London: Gost, 2021. .
Collaborative publications
*''Buren, document Nederland, drie buitenlandse fotografen kijken naar Nederland'' = ''Neighbours: The Netherlands as seen by three foreign photographers.'' Amsterdam: De Verbeelding, 2000. With and
Stephan Vanfleteren
Stephan Vanfleteren (born 1969) is a Belgian photographer, best known for his portraits in black and white and his depictions of Belgium and abroad.
Biography
Stephan Vanfleteren was born in Kortrijk in 1969,Cassell, 1993. . Part of the Cassell AIDS Awareness Series. Edited by Stephen Mayes and Lyndall Stein. Power contributes photographs for a chapter, "Grief and Loss". With a foreword by
Edmund White
Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...
and an introduction by Stephen Mayes. Each chapter also includes a written essay.
*''Home.'' Tokyo:
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
Tokyo, 2018. .
Awards
*2000: Second prize, Arts and Entertainment stories category,
World Press Photo
World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...
1999, Amsterdam
*2003: Terence Donovan Award,
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...