KF CHOY came to photography early and stayed with it his whole life, even when career and family pulled his attention elsewhere. He took his first photo at nine, on a Kodak Instamatic, in the darkroom of a Penang primary school. He didn't return to it full-time until he retired at 56, in 2009. Since then, he hasn't stopped.

Choy grew up surrounded by craft. His father sketched in charcoal, his mother played piano, his grandfather practised Chinese calligraphy, and his grandmother worked needlework and crochet. His family also ran Penang's largest outdoor advertising company through the 1960s to '80s, which put him around creative production from a young age. He carried that same instinct into hospitality, ending his career as General Manager of Hotel Maluri.

What makes Choy's photography distinct is his process. He treats every image as a full journey, from the moment he decides to shoot through to the paper he'll print it on. He prints all his own work, using a Giclée archival printer at home, and tests multiple paper types before settling on a final choice. His approach draws on Japanese aesthetics, particularly wabi-sabi, the appreciation of imperfection and impermanence, and kintsugi, the art of repairing what's broken into something more beautiful.

Since 2009, Choy has taken part in 38 solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally, with his work also featured in several coffee table books. His 2024 exhibition, Beyond the Enigma, traced this full process for the first time, showing collectors not just the finished image, but everything that went into making it.