Apparently, getting about 6 hours total sleep over the course of 4 nights has a very interesting effect on the creative process and what we as photographers see when searching for photo opportunities. While out for my morning walk, I saw this patch of fallen blossoms and the processed scene you see before you immediately sprang to mind. It really matched my mood following several days of non-stop troubleshooting at work, and the thought that sprang to mind when I composed the photo was "before summer can arrive, the blossoms of spring must die." I intentionally shot with high ISO to produce some grain in the image, and I exposed the image to emphasize the light. I wanted the end result to emphasize the death and decay in the foreground, and I think that was achieved. The off-color tones in the black and white were included to add to the feeling of grit. It will be interesting to hear what the image conveys to the viewer.
Post processing started with a high contrast filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, contrast, boost black, and boost white. A levels adjustment and a deep yellow photo filter were added in PSE.
