Pugh sailed to Europe in 1867 in order to attend the International Exposition and wrote a book about his European travels. In it he spoke of how he "[held] it to be a duty every man owes to his family, to have both his and their likenesses taken at least once a year." His studio featured sinks with running water to make sure his prints had as much of the salts washed off of them as possible. In addition, he featured scenery backdrops painted by artists in New York City and an art gallery of photographs and paintings in his studio. Later in his career Pugh took up painting himself, creating life sized portraits of people from ambrotypes he'd taken of them.