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Tay Kay Chin, a Singapore-based photographer, spent more than a decade in newspapers in Singapore and USA, and held positions from Photographer to Presentation editor.

Since leaving his last full-time newspaper job in 2001, he splits his time between lecturing, consulting, writing, and working on selected commercial as well as personal projects.

A 1992 photojournalism graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, he exhibits widely and his photographs are collected by Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European House of Photography in Paris, the Lez Amis Group, and private collectors.

A vocal advocate of photography in Singapore, he co-founded, together with Objectifs Centre For Photography & Filmmaking, one of Southeast Asia’s first photography workshops, Shooting Home; coordinated the exchange program for Sunderland-based International Photography Research Network; and curated Out of Focus, a series of exhibitions for Month of Photography Singapore 2006.

His other curatorial experiences include being picture editor for the Singapore History Museum SARS exhibition; director of photography for Mercy Relief’s Glimpses of Light exhibitions; and most recently, project manager and curator for the 2011 National Day Parade traveling exhibition.

He writes regularly on photography and that includes the introduction essay for Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Early Works exhibition, which was shown in Singapore in June 2006.

From 2003-2008, as a member of the Resource Panel for Photography for Singapore’s National Arts Council, he sat on several selection committees for the Cultural Medallion and Young Artist awards, the highest arts accolades in Singapore.

In 2003, Hasselblad named him one of 12 Hasselblad Masters of the world, in recognition of his Panoramic Singapore series; and that was followed by professional partnerships with Epson and Olympus.

His editorial works have appeared in L’Equipe, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Saveur Magazine, Time Asia, Newsweek, Hasselblad Forum, Searay Living, Meridian Lines, Brutus, The New York Times, Asahi Weekly, Asian Geographic, Skylines, Silverkris, and Asia Business.

He has also done corporate works for Shell UK, Singapore Technologies, National Heritage Board Singapore, Kraft Asia, Burson-Marstellar, GlaxoSmithKline, Lez Amis Group, Daimler, Singapore Petroleum Company, DBS, United Overseas Bank, MTV Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, WingTai, Land Transport Authority of Singapore, Singapore Youth Flying Club, Biopolis Singapore, Urban Renewal Authority of Singapore, Port of Singapore Authority, Nike, Erco and Goodrich.

A co-founder of Platform, a volunteer group that promotes photojournalism and documentary work, he currently teaches photojournalism at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information at Nanyang Technological University.

In 2007, Becoming Capa, a short story he wrote in university was adapted and released as a full-length feature film, Becoming Royston; and in 2008, a photographic novella based on that short story was published.

:: PDF Profile of Kay-Chin

:: CorporatePortfolio

:: Corporate Social Responsibility Portfolio

2011 curator & project manager, 2011 National Day Parade Traveling Exhibition

2011 photographer & writer, Home Just Got Closer, a booklet exploring human relationships, for National Heritage Board, Singapore

2011 picture editor & designer, GE11: We Were There magazine

2010 nominee, Icon de Martell Award

2010 co-founder, Platform

2010 exhibitor, Fotografia, Festival Internazionale di Roma

2009 – 2011 Photographer, Singapore At Work, 50th anniversary book project, National Trades Union Congress

2010 featured photographer, Verve Photo – The New Breed of Documentary Photographers

2009 – present lecturer, Photojournalism, Nanyang Technological University

2009 photographer, book project, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

2009 writer & director, Dads For Life, a short multimedia documentary on fatherhood, for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

2009 photographer, writer & designer, Close Encounters of the Nice Kinds, a commission from National Heritage Board, Singapore

2009 featured artist, part of a television documentary series on Singaporean artists, aired on Singapore’s Channel U, April’09

2008 published Becoming Capa

2008 featured blogger, mysingapore.sg

2008 exhibitor, PhotoArtAsia magazine launch, Bangkok, Thailand

2008 photographer, Nike Human Race book project, Singapore leg

2008 photographer, Singapore Petroleum Company annual report

2008 photographer, DBS 40/40 Corporate Social Responsibility Project

2007 photographer, Urban Redevelopment Authority annual report

2007 photographer, Singapore Technologies Engineering 40th anniversary book

2007 short story, Becoming Capa, turned into a feature film, Becoming Royston

2006 curator, Out of Focus, Month of Photography, Singapore

2006 published Panoramic Singapore

2006 co-founded Kay Ngee Tan Architects Gallery with architect Tan Kay Ngee

2006 solo exhibition – Unphotographable – Esplanade Tunnel, Singapore

2006 coordinator, International Photography Research Network Singapore-UK Residency

2005 – 2006 instructor, Desktop Publishing, Nanyang Technological University

2005 invited photographer, Vision Beijing

2005 photographer, The Journey, Singapore’s Land Transport Story

2005 completed personal project – National Day Babies – 40 people born on August 9

2005 invited nominator, World Press Photo 50th anniversary book – Things As They Are

2005 director of photography & curator, Glimpses of Light exhibitions on tsunami

2004-2006 Epson Stylus Pro

2004 Olympus Visionary

2004 picture editor, 38 degree, Remembering Sars exhibition, Singapore History Museum

2004 columnist, Grain magazine

2003 speaker, Clickart Singapore

2003 – 2008 member, Cultural Medallion & Young Artist award panel, National Arts Council Singapore

2003 solo exhibition – Panorama – Kinokuniya Sydney, Australia

2003 solo exhibitions – Panoramic Singapore – Objectifs & Esplanade Tunnel, Singapore

2003 co-founded Shooting Home, one of the first photography workshops in Southeast Asia, with Objectifs

2003 named Hasselblad Master, one of 12 in the world for that year

2002 photographer, Brave The Heat book project for MTV Asia

2002 photographer, A Different Sun, charity book project benefitting children cancer patients

2002 & 2004 exhibitor, Chobi Mela photography festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2002 master speaker & exhibitor, Month of Photography, Singapore

 2001 Panoramic Singapore exhibited as part of New Messenger exhibition, Gallery Hotel, Singapore

2001 Sept 11 cover for The Sun selected as one of 10 best designs by Poynter Institute

2001 resigned from The Sun and returned to Singapore

2001 Panoramic Singapore published in Asian Geographic magazine

2001 joined The Sun in Bremerton, Washington as Presentation Editor

2001 started working on Panoramic Singapore

2000 founded the Nikon Media Photographer of the Year Award

1999 resigned from The Straits Times but remained as a web consultant to spearhead redesign

1999 promoted as head of the Picture Desk, the first photographer to have risen from the rank to the top post

1998 returned to The Straits Times Picture Desk as Deputy Picture Editor

1996 joined The Straits Times Interactive as a Designer

1996 learned web design and built one of the first online photography galleries in the world for The Straits Times photographers

1996 promoted to Deputy Picture Editor

1993 joined The Straits Times as photographer

1992 graduated with degree in Photojournalism at Missouri-Columbia

1992 awarded Los Angeles Times Scholarship

1991 awarded Fuji Scholarship

1991 first Singaporean to participate in Missouri Photo Workshop

1991 photography Intern at Hartford Courant

1990 awarded the Kodak Professional Photography Scholarship

1989 enrolled as undergraduate at University of Missouri-Columbia

1987 joined Singapore’s Lianhe Wanbao as photographer

1987 joined Angie Mui Advertising as copywriter

 


Copyright © 2010 Tay Kay Chin. All Rights Reserved.