Hon Chow Lai (Joseph) was born in Taiwan and raised in New York. Coming from a family of filmmakers, he was shaped from an early age by the aesthetics of light, composition, and storytelling. His work spans street, narrative, and fine-art photography, attending to the subtle relationships between people, space, and the act of looking — his street work capturing fleeting moments with depth and contrast, his fine-art images transforming movement and texture into expressive forms. Through the juxtaposition and sequencing of images, he draws viewers into shifting ways of seeing, between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
His photography has been recognized by international awards including the 1839 Awards, the New York Photography Awards, and PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, and exhibited in Tokyo, Kyoto, Budapest, and Taipei — including the Tokyo Street Photography Festival at Setagaya Art Museum and KG+ during KYOTOGRAPHIE.

Selected Awards

2025 — 1839 Awards — Photographer of the Year (Non-Professional), nominated in 9 categories 2025 — PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris — Honorable Mention 2025 — Refocus Awards — Honorable Mention 2024 — PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris — Honorable Mention 2023 — New York Photography Awards — Silver Winner 2023 — Tokyo International Foto Awards — Honorable Mention 2023 — Annual Photography Awards — Honorable Mention Selected Exhibitions (Solo and Group) 2026 — Harmony in Contrast, KG+, Dohjidai Gallery of Art, Kyoto, Japan 2026 — Tokyo Street Photography Festival, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan 2025 — Tokyo Street Photography Festival, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan 2025 — Significant Colour, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary 2025 — Nature Escape #1, Whatever Gallery, Kyoto, Japan 2025 — City's Daily Life, Moo Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

Curatorial Project

2025 — Curator, Urban Transitions — J.Lindeberg × Liang Su, Art Taipei 2025
Publications & Features 2025 — Photographize, Street Photo Masters 2025 2025 — Frames Magazine Digital Zine, editorial feature, July issue 2025 — KYOTOGRAPHIE portfolio review