He spent the early part of his professional career at The Straits Times, where he held positions from photographer to picture editor.
A photojournalism graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, he is a regular speaker and judge at regional photography events.
He has exhibited widely and his photographs are collected by Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European House of Photography in Paris and private collectors.
He also wrote the introduction essay for Henri Cartier-Bresson's Early Works exhibition, which was shown in Singapore in June 2006.
In both 2005 and 2015, Chin carried out an "August 9 Babies" project, to celebrate Singapore's independence day, with one person from each year (40 and 50, respectively).