By the beach, where the pale waves sigh,
morning drapes gold across the sky.
A café hums with gentle grace,
steam curls upward, soft as lace.
Patrons linger with toast and talk,
sunlight spilling where shadows walk.
Cups clink lightly, the baybird calls,
salt and coffee perfume the walls.
The breeze tastes sweet with sea and day,
the city still yawns a mile away.
Here, at the edge where the tides begin,
life feels slower — soft, within.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 983
A chap in a faded tee, long hair untamed,
leans on a bench where the sea is framed.
Phone to his ear, his laughter drifts,
between gull cries and the tramline’s shifts.
Opposite, the ice cream shop hums and gleams,
a melody of cones and seaside dreams.
Vanilla winds and ocean air entwine,
sweet and salt in the afternoon shine.
Behind him, the bay holds a silver hue,
and time, for a moment, forgets to move.
Only his voice, soft and far away,
threads through the heart of a Melbourne day.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 982
At dusk, the salt lake breathes a hush,
its skin a mirror to the fading blush.
A lone silhouette stands between worlds
earth below, heaven unfurled.
No ripple breaks the boundless glass,
where sky and soul in stillness pass.
The wind forgets its ancient song,
time itself lingers, lingering long.
One step — and stars bloom at the feet,
two realms of silence gently meet.
Lake Tyrrell holds the dream entire,
a mortal shadow, the sky’s desire.
Sony A7RV
FE 20-70mm f4 G
Check out Candid 979
Inside Kisumé’s hush of glass and gleam,
The counter hums—a river’s dream.
The chef, back turned, composes grace,
Steel and sea in quiet embrace.
Behind him, bent in focused line,
The sous-chef hunts the missing knife
A slender blade, a slip of light,
That cuts through ritual, art, and life.
Steam rises soft, the lamps are low,
Time folds beneath the sushi’s glow.
Two figures move, as breath to flame
In wordless craft, they share one name.
Sony A7RV
FE 14mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 978
In the hush of Collins Arcade,
where marble echoes cradle each footfall,
an Asian woman bends slightly forward,
black-rimmed glasses glinting
like a poet’s pause between lines.
She listens — not merely with the ear
but with the whole gravity of her being,
as if the customer’s halting words
were a fragile bird she dared not startle.
Light pools on her sleeve,
the scent of roasted beans and rain-damp stone
folds into the moment
and the city, briefly, forgets its noise.
In her attentive stillness
there is something luminous,
the quiet art of presence
a listening so complete
it becomes its own kind of grace.
Sony A7RV
FE 135mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 977
Off Elizabeth Street, the air hums with noon
trams rattle, pigeons scatter crumbs.
A man stands easy, jumper looped around his neck,
glasses glinting like a second sun.
He props one foot upon the bench,
beside a quiet patron lost in thought,
their worlds just inches apart
one resting, one mid-motion.
The city flows around them
coffee scent, sirens, street chatter
and for a breath,
the scene becomes a sketch of Melbourne:
casual, alive,
where strangers share a bench
and time forgets to hurry.
Sony A7RV
FE 135mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 976
A wicked smile flickers
he wipes his lips with the back of his hand,
crumbs falling like careless words.
The mullet catches light,
a halo of defiance
under the café’s striped awning.
He leans back in his chair,
street laughter spilling past,
steam rising from cups and grates alike.
There’s swagger in his stillness,
a kind of rough poetry
in the way he owns the moment
De Graves Street watching,
and he, unbothered,
watching it back.
Sony A7RV
FE 135mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 975 and FACE OFF
De Graves Street hums its midday tune
cups clink, trams sigh somewhere near.
A woman in sunglasses leans by the café wall,
sunlight glinting on her hair.
She lifts a sandwich, slow and certain,
each bite a small rebellion
against the rush of office hours,
against the turning world.
Around her, footsteps weave and scatter,
voices blur like jazz in the lane,
but she is still —
a quiet rhythm in the city’s heart,
chewing, tasting,
letting Melbourne move around her.
Sony A7RV
FE 135mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 974
Off Little Flinders Lane,
they walk three abreast
mother, son, and older brother
wrapped in the black and white breath
of Collingwood.
The scarves sway like banners
in the thin October wind,
threads whispering
of victories, losses,
and Saturday roars from the ‘G’.
The boy’s grin gleams under his cap,
his brother taller, already
half a man,
and their mum keeps pace,
steady and proud,
her laughter folding
into the hum of the city.
Around them, trams sigh,
coffee steams,
laneway murals flare and fade
but their colours stay true,
black and white,
heart and tribe,
Collingwood forever.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 973
Two young blokes off Degraves Street,
where shadows curl and sunlight meet
one wears his shades upon his hair,
the other’s brim cuts morning air.
Their laughter drifts through coffee steam,
the lane alive, a waking dream;
tram bells sigh beyond the stone,
yet here they make the world their own.
So light their talk, so bright their ease,
the city hums in minor keys;
youth’s brief fire, unbound, complete
two young blokes off Degraves Street.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 972
In Degraves Street’s narrow hum,
where coffee steam and footsteps drum,
a couple waits before the door
of Jungle Juice — their quiet shore.
They sit, the morning half-awake,
as trams above the city shake;
two figures queue in dappled light,
their laughter blending with the bright.
The scent of citrus, mango air,
the hiss of blenders everywhere;
time slows—an amber, sunlit pause,
between the rush and urban cause.
The couple leans, their hands entwined,
as summer drifts through Melbourne’s mind.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 971
The couple sat on stools that day,
by a café on Little Lonsdale’s way
no hurry in their gentle gaze,
just sunlight caught in Melbourne haze.
Both wore straw hats, soft and wide,
their brims like halos side by side;
steam rose lazy from their cups,
while city life kept filling up.
People passed in hurried streams,
heels clicking through their weekday dreams;
but in that lane, time bent and stayed
a still life softly overlaid.
Two straw hats, a quiet grace,
the world went on—they kept their place.
Bare-chested beneath the awning’s shade,
he sits with his guitar, half in dream—
the strings sigh softly, a golden seam
stitched through the city’s passing parade.
Rain-slick pavement mirrors light,
trams glide by in a silver blur;
his voice, low ember, seems to stir
the air between the day and night.
People pass—umbrellas bloom,
phones glow pale in drifting hands;
yet still he plays, as though he stands
in some cathedral made of gloom.
Unnoticed saint of Swanston Street,
his song spills warm where cold winds meet.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check Out Candid 969
A sign reads shops,
letters simple, pointing nowhere
and everywhere.
Beneath it,
three men in baseball caps
move down the narrow corridor,
their footsteps a rhythm
on stone that remembers
a thousand mornings.
Shadows bend along the walls,
lanterns blink,
the lane breathes with coffee and rain,
while the word shops
hangs above them,
a small command,
a promise of doors opening
into the heart of Melbourne.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 968
In Centre Place,
where voices echo against brick and steam,
a young man in glasses
leans forward, pen ready.
Menus curl in his hands,
patrons lift their eyes—
a question, a smile,
the scratch of order on a page.
Around him,
cups clink, chairs scrape,
the lane hums with roasting beans
and the shuffle of passing coats.
He gathers their words
like coins in a till,
steady,
while the city
keeps breathing past the doorway.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 967
A misted late morning,
lanes breathe with coffee steam,
shoes scuff cobblestones,
voices fold into the narrow air.
She stands in a sports bra,
light striking her shoulders,
beside him—
a man with a T-shirt,
slurpee in hand,
both gazing outward.
Crowds press past windows,
shops hum with colour and clatter,
and for a moment
they are still,
two figures
watching the current
of Melbourne flow around them.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 966
By the river’s edge,
in a glass-walled room of murmured cutlery,
a gentleman in darkened shades
leans toward the page before him.
The menu glows with afternoon light,
letters flickering like ripples
cast from the Yarra.
Outside, the water moves,
inside, he studies choice—
wine, or silence,
meat, or memory.
Through tinted lenses
he gazes outward,
yet keeps his eyes hidden—
a private tide
flowing beneath Melbourne’s
busy Southbank air.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 965 and FACE OFF
A young chap lingers, eyes aglow,
the city hums, its currents slow.
A chalkboard leans by the narrow door,
its promise written, nothing more:
Today’s special — pure Wagyu flame,
a milk bar’s charm, a bygone name.
Off Collins Street where footsteps blend,
the scent of grills on breezes bend.
He watches still, unsure to choose,
a fleeting world he cannot lose.
In neon haze, the sign shines true
a simple feast, yet wholly new.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 964
A tall young man lifts bottle high,
Its glass caught glimmers of the sky.
A lady dressed in tennis white,
Stands near, her smile both coy and bright.
He courts her gently, word by word,
While city’s murmurs hum unheard.
Within Degraves’ close alleyway,
Their fleeting moment holds its sway.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 962
One man with two fair ladies near,
They linger where the scents appear.
At Centre Place the shadows fall,
Yet coffee’s warmth unites them all.
The narrow lane with echoes sings,
Of whispered talk and clinking rings.
Three souls await the barista’s art,
A brew to stir both tongue and heart.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 962
One elder sat with shaded eyes,
His gaze bent low where the bright screen lies.
A message flickered, silent, small,
Yet seemed to hold his world in thrall.
An Asian man with a brim so wide,
Peered through the café’s glowing side.
From Degraves Street, the moments blend,
Where strangers meet and pathways bend.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
All tables filled, no seat to spare,
Patrons crowd with laughter there.
From Degraves Street the voices rise,
A bustling hum beneath the skies.
Steam of coffee, clatter of plates,
Time suspended as the city waits.
Each corner brims with talk and cheer,
A fleeting world that gathers here.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 961 and FACE OFF
Two children tumbled, lost in play,
While father’s gaze drifted far away.
An old hack horse with weary eye,
Fixed on the lens as folk passed by.
Beyond, a queue in patient line,
Waited outside the café’s sign.
On Little Flinders, life flowed slow,
A street of stories, soft and low.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
On Little Flinders, narrow, bright,
The lane is stirred with life and light.
Young voices rise, with laughter proud,
They blend among the bustling crowd.
Adults wander, side by side,
Through cafés warm and shops that hide.
Together weaving, slow or spry,
Beneath the city’s watchful sky.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 959
Before Flinders’ grand and storied face,
The crowd assembles, throngs in place.
A tide of footsteps, swift and slow,
Through city’s heart they ebb and flow.
Beneath the clock, where meetings start,
The station hums, the city’s heart.
In Melbourne’s pulse, both near and far,
The people gather, as they are.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 958
Upon Flinders Street they tread with cheer,
Two youthful souls in garb austere.
In shirts and shorts, with steps so fleet,
They journey forth through bustling street.
The city hums, the trams roll by,
The footie’s call is drawing nigh.
With laughter light and spirits flame,
They march together toward the game.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 957
On De Graves Street, the morning hums,
Young chaps gather where sunlight comes.
Brunch laid out on a bustling lane,
Laughter rising like soft champagne.
A curly head in bokeh sways,
Blurred behind their lively ways.
Forks click, cups clink, the chatter flows,
A fleeting warmth the city knows.
Shadows stretch, the street alive,
In fleeting moments, all thrives.
A simple brunch, yet worlds entwine,
In sunlight, scent, and coffee’s brine.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 956
In Little Collins Street, he hides,
Shadowed by brick and whispered tides.
Earbuds hum a private stream,
A world inside, a hidden dream.
Footsteps echo, brisk and small,
Neon flickers against the wall.
A melody or talk drifts near,
Only he can catch, only he can hear.
Smoke of the city curls around,
Steel and glass, a distant sound.
Alley folds him like a secret note,
Music or podcast, on him it floats.
Sony A7RV
FE 135mm f1.8
Check out Candid 955
A blur of movement,
the city hums around him.
One man holds his lunch,
head turned right,
glasses catching the light
a brief defiance of haste.
Behind, a young chap
lifts his lens to the air,
framing what the crowd forgets.
Centre Place breathes,
a laneway of fleeting stories,
each glance a poem
half-written in passing.
Sony A7RV
FE 135mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 954 and FACE OFF
A mural leans upon the wall,
its colours muted into grey.
The street is full
pedestrians flow like sardines,
pressed in rhythm,
their footsteps stitching the lane.
Beneath wide umbrellas,
waiter and patrons linger,
the clatter of plates
mingling with laughter and pause.
Degraves Street breathes—
a café theatre in monochrome,
every figure caught
between shadow and light.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 952
A city afternoon,
jerseys gather at the table,
voices half-spilled with cutlery.
She stands apart,
hands lit by a private glow,
while the street drifts untoward
all strangers,
stitched for a moment
into monochrome.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 951
Laneway breathes in hush,
chalkboard words like soft confessions,
steam drifts into sky.
Screens glow in their hands,
faces turned to private worlds,
the city looks on.
Graffiti prayers fade,
yet the shutter holds them still
strangers stitched by light.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out
Couple on the left, eyes drifting wide,
A glance, a whisper, worlds collide.
Waitress balances a plate mid-air,
Movement caught in casual care.
Chap on the right, cap low, intent,
Savoring bites, every moment spent.
Life unfolds in shadows and light,
Degraves hums its quiet bite.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 949
Faceless man, footie scarf tight,
slides past tables, morning bright.
Crowds murmur, cups clink, plates scrape,
he threads the chatter, a quiet escape.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 949
Two figures blaze in the sun,
bare arms, swift steps,
their dresses cut sharp against the light.
On the left,
the shaded tables hold their hush—
diners folded into shadow,
whispers curling like steam from cups.
Between them
a line divides the world:
light that exposes,
dark that conceals.
And the lane,
forever narrow,
swallows both.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
A father bends,
hands fumbling in the bag,
searching for a small delight—
a toy, a sweet, a promise of care.
Beside him,
his daughter waits,
eyes wide as if the world
were stitched from his pockets.
Across the street,
a current of strangers flows—
heels striking, bicycles leaning,
faces turned toward their own errands.
Yet in the noise,
this quiet gesture blooms:
love measured not in grandeur,
but in the reach of a father’s hand.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 947
A man and his giant shadow of fur,
stride steady through the narrow street.
The dog’s paws echo like soft drums,
marking time against the city’s hum.
Bicycles lean,
cars gleam,
but it is the quiet bond between walker and beast
that bends the lane into rhythm.
People pass,
signs blur,
yet in this moment—
the city belongs to two companions,
carving their way through Melbourne’s breath.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 946
Graffiti clings
to silver walls,
an alphabet of passing hands.
Shadows break
shoes cross the street,
each step a fragment of the city’s hum.
Packets of colour
glimmer in glass,
quiet offerings to hungry eyes.
And through it all,
the lane exhales
a rhythm stitched of strangers.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 945
In the narrow vein of the city’s heart,
laughter spills where cobblestones part,
a chorus of cups, steam rising high,
conversations tangled with the sky.
Shadows lean from weathered brick,
signs hum low in a language slick,
ink of strangers, stories shared,
threads of a laneway carefully spared.
Faces glow in the softened crowd,
young voices weaving bright and loud,
the air is stitched with roasted beans,
and fragments of half-forgotten dreams.
Here, time is tender, quietly bold
a mosaic of lives in silver and gold,
and each small step upon these stones
makes the city breathe through borrowed tones.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 944
In monochrome the scene is cast,
A fleeting moment, caught and fast.
A chap emerges, slow in pace,
Contentment written on his face.
From pasta’s den he takes his leave,
His belly round, his heart relieved.
The alley hums, the shadows play,
De Graves holds stories night and day.
His step is heavy, yet it shows,
The simple joy a good meal sows.
A quiet frame, a fleeting art,
Of fullness carried in the heart.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 943
A waiter stands in footie pride,
With “AFL” across his side.
He casts a glance, a knowing sign,
To draw me in, to sit, to dine.
Off De Graves Street, lanes awake,
With clatter, chatter, scents to take.
His eyes invite, his smile implores,
To step within through open doors.
I hold my lens, the street’s my frame,
Yet feel the tug of his small game.
Between the shutter and the seat,
Temptation lingers in the street.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 942
A cameraman stands, his gaze held still,
Upon the wall where chalk lines fill.
Behind the bar, the barista waits,
While words of coffee mark the slates.
Espresso, latte, mocha, chai,
Each name like clouds that wander by.
His lens at rest, his mind now stirred,
By every drink, each painted word.
The hum of cups, the hiss of steam,
Blend softly with his quiet dream.
For once, no frame, no rushing view
Just choices warm, and rich, and new.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 941
On De Graves Street, a restless tide,
A young man walks with hopeful stride.
His gaze pursues a fleeting flame,
A lady bold, with beauty’s claim.
Her dress is light, the hemline high,
It dances free with passing sky.
Her legs, unveiled, the crowd admire,
She moves as though the stones inspire.
He follows close with easy air,
In casual clothes, without much care.
But every step betrays his aim—
To catch her glance, to spark a flame.
The city hums, the moment brief,
Desire laced with shy belief.
On cobbled lane where strangers meet,
A silent play unfolds the street.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 940 and FACE OFF
On De Graves Street,
he leans forward,
mouth wide with laughter or hunger,
taking a great bite
of whatever joy the plate has given.
Beside him, his partner watches—
a soft echo in her eyes,
the kind that belongs
to the ease of shared meals.
Around them the façade glows,
lanterns and shadows woven close,
the laneway humming
with its vibey grace,
as if the walls themselves
were tasting life
through their laughter.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 939
Off De Graves Street,
beneath the laneway’s hush,
a father leans into a table’s comfort,
cap tilted,
tattoo ink coiled upon his leg
like a memory written in skin.
Two boys beside him,
bright in their footy shirts,
shoulders knocking in the smallness of youth,
eyes wide with the ordinary feast.
Plates clatter,
the city breathes around them,
but here
in this narrow corner of Melbourne
a family meal becomes
its own quiet monument.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 938
On De Graves Street,
he settles into the chair’s embrace,
a small table before him
like an island of pause
amid the city’s restless tide.
Shorts bare his knees to the morning air,
yet the photograph permits no season
only the hush of black and white,
where his coffee steams invisibly,
a secret warmth the lens refuses.
Here he leans,
cup lifted in quiet ritual,
as though the whole lane
were distilled to this moment:
a man, a table,
and time poured slowly
into porcelain.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 937
The sushi shop is closed,
its doors drawn in silence,
though only yesterday
the place was alive with voices
and the scent of rice and sea.
I did not expect its absence,
for it was well loved,
a small refuge on Swanston
where many found their share of comfort.
Two young girls paused before it,
hopeful, then uncertain,
their search for a simple meal
redirected into the city’s restless night.
So it is with such places
they flourish, they fade,
leaving only the memory
of quiet tables,
and familiar flavours gone.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 936
Down Collins Street he strode,
beard bristling in the city’s glow,
both hands laden with goods,
each step a wide unhurried claim
upon the pavement’s grey expanse.
Great earphones crowned his head,
a private orchestra unheard by all,
yet his stride kept perfect time,
a rhythm only he could hear,
a march through Melbourne’s bustle.
Shoppers glanced, the trams rolled on,
but he—self-contained, unfaltering
carried his burdens like trophies,
a solitary figure,
moving to music of his own.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 935
