Mark was born and raised in Elkins Park[8] in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[10] and began photographing with a Box Brownie camera[6] at age nine. She attended Cheltenham High School,[10] where she was head cheerleader and exhibited a knack for painting and drawing.[1] She received a BFA degree in painting and art history from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1962.[6] After graduating she worked briefly in the Philadelphia city planning department[6] before returning for a master's degree in photojournalism at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, which she received in 1964.[1] The following year, Mark received a Fulbright Scholarship to photograph in Turkey for a year,[1] from which she produced her first book, Passport (1974). While there, she also traveled to photograph England, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain.[7]