At age 14 he apprenticed to the Hsu Ch'i-yuan Photography Studio, where he learned everything he could about the art of photography, from backdrop design to lampblack touchups.
十四歲那年，為學得一技之長，他到「徐淇淵寫真館」當學徒，學習拍照與畫像，由於他在學校時，在圖畫、書寫、勞作方面就過人一等，屢次當選為學校代表，所以較不費力地在徐淇淵寫真館中謀得職位，從佈景搭架、看板設計到「油煙」畫像，他無所不學。