A fascinating image and story, Justin. Thanks for sharing it.
On a related note, I have recently been sorting through images, separately for B&W and Color, for possibly making a couple of books.
Although all of my work is now digital, I still find that the images that still hold my attention the most have two characteristics: They are all black-and-white, and all the best images were made on film.
For me, an image still isn't "real" until it has been printed on paper, even though my current printing is all digital (even on film images, my digital prints are now at least as good as my best darkroom prints, with some fifty years of serious darkroom work).
So I think you are onto something. I, too, cannot explain the physics.