A top Hollywood actress of the time (silent films), Mary Miles Minter, had a problem. She had pale blue eyes and with the kind of film being used for movies at that time, her eyes would be a big blank. Howe surrounded the lens on his still camera with dark cloth (in effect, he reflected "dark" into her eyes, not light) and she loved the photos and made him her personal still photographer. That gave him a boost to become a cinematographer. Not that easy for a guy born in China in those days.