Finding no suitable prospects for a career under Japanese rule, he decided to try to earn a living from the photography he had enjoyed as a student and set up the first photographic equipment store on Taiwan: the Nankuang Camera Equipment Shop on Po Ai Road in Taipei.
民國廿四年，鄧南光回到台灣，發現在日人統治下無適當出路，乾脆以學生時代所學的攝影為業，在台北市的京町（今博愛路）開設了本省第一家照相器材行，取名「南光寫真機店」，並開始他第一階段的攝影創作。