He was only in Nagasaki for a short time, but while there he taught wet-collodion process photography to Ueno, Horie Kuwajirō (1831–1866), Maeda Genzō (1831–1906) and others.

The purchase, which included photographic chemicals, was funded by the daimyō of Tsu Domain, Tōdō Takayuki, and the price was 150 ryō.

[4] In 1862 Ueno and Horie co-wrote a textbook titled Shamitsu Kyoku Hikkei that comprised translated extracts from ten Dutch science manuals and which included an appendix titled Satsueijutsu [The Technique of Photography] that described techniques of collodion process photography as well as Nicéphore Niépce's asphalt printing method.

[e][4] After his time working for the Tsu Domain in Edo, Ueno returned to Nagasaki, but finding that Pompe van Meerdervoort had left the country, he gave up rangaku, or the study of Western science.

In the autumn of 1862 Ueno opened a commercial photographic studio by the Nakashima River in Nagasaki and he also began importing cameras.

[5][6] At first the business was unsuccessful, but it gradually grew, allowing the studio to move to a large and well-lit building in 1882, becoming popular with Japanese and foreign notables and receiving mention in guidebooks, in Edmond Cotteau's Un touriste dans l'Extrême-Orient (1884) and in Pierre Loti's novel, Madame Chrysanthème (1887).

The patronage of foreigners in turn greatly increased Ueno's income, which allowed him to use more expensive materials and to expand his studios.

Still in the early days of this imported technology, Ueno overcame the reticence of many Japanese to be photographed and took portraits of such figures as Sakamoto Ryōma, Itō Shunsuke, Takasugi Shinsaku,[4][f] and Katsu Kaishū.

Ueno maintained a close relationship with Uchida, and following the latter's trip to Nagasaki in 1872 while photographing for the Emperor Meiji their albums include several identical images that they presumably exchanged.