At the time, there were really only two styles of photography in Taiwan: beautified salon photography and traditional realism. The unprecedented nature of Chang's work caused quite a stir. Other photographers criticized it as decadent, passive, and ghostly stiff and pale. Yet painters and modernist writers had high praise for the young man.
在攝影只有唯美沙龍與傳統寫實風格的年代，張照堂前無古人的作品在攝影圈引起軒然大波，攝影界丟出頹廢、消極、慘白僵硬等批評，然而繪畫界及現代文學界卻對這個年輕小伙子大為讚賞。