However he quit studying and began to work at a photo studio run by Tōyō Kikuchi (菊池東陽) in New York City.

The grittiness of Nayakama's urbanscape photographs of New York City, quite a contrast with his earlier dreamlike landscapes, might be attributed to his contact with Hartmann who had a reputation as the "King of Bohemia" in the Greenwich Village.

"[2] French Indian dancer Nyota Inoyka, who Nakayama met in New York, convinced him to move to Paris.

Nakayama published a manifesto upon returning to Japan in which he stated his commitment to “Pure Art Photography” in Asahi Camera (January 1928).

He wanted to create something “that only photography can produce.” This marked a shift in his photographic approach as he began to incorporate more negatives into his compositions, similar to Man Ray and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s photogram technique.

When the German Film und Foto exhibition was held in Tokyo and Osaka, the Avant-garde photography started to become recognized and the Ashiya Camera Club was praised.

[2] Yuri Mitsuda writes that Nakayama grappled withthe complex attitude he held towards Western art.

Precisely because Nakayama had first-hand knowledge of both American and European art, he showed great restraint in refraining from imitating them.

He described his goal in an essay he published in Asahi Camera, that he wanted to "create a scene through the hallucinogen of photography that could never be witnessed in real life.

As Japan became more militaristic and involved itself in conflicts with the Soviet Union and China in the 1930s, the opinion that photography should capture reality and be used for journalistic reporting became dominant.

As this photojournalism in Japan became steeped in wartime ideology, Nakayama continued to pursue his avant-garde expression during the lean years of the war.