Houston Light & Color Diary

When the seventh dataset disintegrated at 2:47 AM, I abandoned Python scripts for my Sony A7IV. The camera's weight felt different this time—not a tool for documentation, but a compass for navigating burnout. In Houston's humid embrace, where refinery flames lick the sky and Spanish moss drips from live oaks, I began collecting chromatic antidepressants. 🎨 Chromatic Therapy Protocol ▪️ Saturation Prescription Pushing magenta curves until parking lot puddles mirror candy-pink sunsets, making bluebonnets vibrate against rusted railroad tracks. Each oversaturated frame a deliberate rebellion against grayscale data charts. ▪️ Shadow Rehabilitation Chasing the 4:17 PM golden hour when the Williams Tower becomes a prism, shooting through prism filters to fracture light into spectral bands across cracked sidewalks. ▪️ Thermal Deception White-balancing towards 5600K to create perpetual autumn, turning convenience store awnings into cobalt canvases and transforming sweat-glazed necks into gilded sculptures. 📷 Geometric First Aid 50mm lens focusing on parallel realities: children's chalk drawings overlapping sewer grates Time-lapses of storm clouds swallowing downtown skyscrapers, then vomiting golden hour Macro shots of paleta vendors' carts where mango drips crystallize into amber galaxies 🔬 Scientific Method, Reimagined I began treating photography as research: Hypothesis: Beauty persists in petroleum country Methodology: Shoot at f/1.8 to blur oil refineries into bokeh orbs Results: 73% of frames showed unexpected color correlations Conclusion: The standard deviation of joy is wider than presumed When security guards asked why I photographed industrial pipes, I explained: "These are my western blot gels, but with better color resolution." At the Ship Channel, where chemical rainbows shimmer on oil-slicked water, I finally understood—data and light both reveal truth through different wavelengths. #OpticalDecompression #ResearchAndRainbows #HoustonChromotherapy