Project 365 - Day 27 (Splash of Color)

Southern Illinois in Mud Season is just a lot of dull and gray, stuck for a few weeks between the lush colors and textures of late fall and starkly beautiful light and lines of winter.  Sometimes we get some gray and dull, but it's usually just a nice shade of dull and gray.  So, for today, I wanted to grab a splash of color, but knew most if not all of the buds would be gone.  And then...a small park off an out of the way street....

And One....

For this effect, which I don't normally like, I desaturated everything but the blue, which is just that bright and oddly prominent as if you were standing where I was.  I wanted to emphasize the isolation of the court and basket as well as the unexpected color as opposed to just using this technique as just some gimmick.  In all the years I've lived in this town and passed this park, I've never seen anyone take a shot at this basket....

Here's the full color version:

 

This shot gives a sense of the isolation of the place.

The swing set...again, I've never seen anyone use it, though it's been well maintained for years.

A bit more detail, as it might be seen from the perspective of a 9 year-old boy, contemplating the climb....