they presumably exchanged. Eventually, Ueno opened branches of his photographic studio in Vladivostok in 1890 and in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1891. In addition to portraits, Ueno produced many images of Nagasaki and its surroundings. He also photographed the transit of Venus across the sun in 1874 for an American astronomical observation mission. In 1877, the governor of Nagasaki prefecture, Kitajima Hidetomo, commissioned him to take battlefield photographs in southwest Japan during the Satsuma Rebellion. For this commission Ueno was paid ¥330 for 420 prints. He was accompanied on this job by Setsu Shinichi and Noguchi Jōichi. He exhibited photographs in at least two World Expositions, the Vienna World Exposition of 1873 and the World Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, at which he won an award for “Good Taste and Artistic Finish”. At first Ueno practiced wet-plate photography, but by about 1877 he began using imported Belgian dry plates. In spite of the contemporary popularity of hand-coloured photographs, Ueno's photographs are usually uncoloured. Some of Ueno's negatives were probably purchased at some point by the photographer Kusakabe Kimbei, as these images appear in the latter's albums. Though he apparently did not regularly offer photograph albums, he seems to have made some albums by special request for foreign customers. Ueno considered French and American photographic techniques and materials (for example, paper and lenses) to be superior to those of the British, whose products he also complained were overpriced, noting that albumen paper sold (c. 1868) for 100 ryō per box. Eight of Ueno's photographs can be found online from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Commemoration In 2000 the “Kyushu Sangyo University Photo Contest” established the “Ueno Hikoma Award” to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the founding of Kyushu Sangyo University. The award is intended to discover and nurture emerging photographers. Notes References General references Bachmann Eckenstein Art & Antiques. Accessed 3 April 2006. Bennett, Terry. “The Search for Rossier: Early Photographer of China & Japan”. Accessed 3 April 2006. Canadian Centre for Architecture; Collections Online, s.v. “Uyeno, Hikoma”. Accessed 3 April 2006. Clark, John. Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, continental Europe, and the USA: Papers and Research Materials (Sydney: Power Publications, 2001), 89, 334–335. Kyushu Sangyo University; Kyushu Sangyo University Photo Contest; Ueno Hikoma Award. Accessed 3 April 2006. Musée Nicéphore Niépce; Collection du musée Niépce. Thé/Laque/Photographie. Accessed 3