Melbourne Candid Series #1223 Collins Arcade

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1222 Elizabeth St

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1221 De Graves St

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1220 De Graves St

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1200 Little Collins St

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1199 Centre place

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1180 Collins St

 

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

Melbourne Candid Series #1179 Collins Arcade

 

Inside Collins Arcade they stand,
A small family, hand in hand.
Father points with careful grace,
At a restaurant’s digital face.

Eyes alight with plans to dine,
Together tracing each line.
Warmth of shared, unspoken cheer,
Moments simple, yet sincere.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 934

Melbourne Candid Series #1178 De Graves St

 

Four young men in sunlight’s glow,
Chairs set out in a gentle row,
Laughter drifts on the street’s soft hum,
Coffee warms where their voices come.

Sidewalk buzzes, world moves by,
Yet here they sit beneath the sky,
Moments caught in a fleeting scene,
Simple, bright, and quietly keen.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm 1.8 GM

Check out Candid 933

Melbourne Candid Series #1177 De Graves St

 

Amid the hum of De Graves Street,
A young chap lets his eyes retreat,
Footsteps drum in rhythmic flow,
Yet stillness blooms where he lets go.

Faces blur and voices rise,
He finds a calm beneath the skies,
In the crowded pulse of day’s parade,
A quiet pause, unafraid.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check Candid 932

Melbourne Candid Series #1133 Elizabeth St

 

A flash of lycra, vivid, tight,
A helmet gleams in morning light.
Down Elizabeth, swift and free,
A biker blurs like poetry.

The city hums, the pavement sings,
Wheels spin dreams on fleeting wings.
Steel and flesh in motion blend—
A rush, a roar, the street’s own friend.

Between the buildings tall and gray,
The cyclist carves a fleeting way.
With every pedal, swift and sure,
The pulse of Melbourne rides secure.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 887

Melbourne Candid Series 1132 Bourke St Mall

 

Laughter on Bourke

He sat in sun, a man of years,
With laughter loud that chased the fears,
In sunglasses, his joy a flare
That split the noon with blazing care.

Beside him, quiet, his small young son,
A shadow short beneath the sun,
Looked up as if to catch the fire
That lit his father's brief desire.

The street around, a surging tide,
With trams and heels and time's long stride,
Yet in that pause the world stood still—
Just sun and blood, and love’s goodwill.

A city’s heart beat all around,
But sweeter was that human sound:
A father's laugh, deep-cut and real,
That spoke what mouths can’t always feel.

On Bourke they sat, mid noon’s wide sprawl,
Two lives adrift, yet held by all—
By sunlight, kinship, breath, and grace,
And joy that time cannot erase.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 886 This has been one of the top 10 favorite posted on my blog here

Melbourne Candid Series #1131 Bourke St Melb

 

(Same poem as yesterday)

A youth with mullet trailing wild,
A cap hung low, the city’s child,
Stood firm where footsteps throng and blur,
His violin his saboteur.

With rosined bow and eyes cast low,
He summoned tunes both fast and slow,
Each note a cry, a silver thread
Unspooling dreams the street had shed.

Behind him flowed the tram’s refrain,
Its bell a chime through smoke and rain,
While cars crawled past in tangled streams,
Oblivious to his stitched dreams.

He played not for applause or coin,
But for the world he might rejoin—
Where echoes rise through autumn's breath,
And songs outlive the hush of death.

Bourke watched in greys and neon hue,
As music flared and nightfall grew.
The crowd passed by, then circled round—
A boy, a bow, defying sound.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out 

Melbourne Candid Series #1130 Violin player on Bourke St Mall Melb

 

A youth with mullet trailing wild,
A cap hung low, the city’s child,
Stood firm where footsteps throng and blur,
His violin his saboteur.

With rosined bow and eyes cast low,
He summoned tunes both fast and slow,
Each note a cry, a silver thread
Unspooling dreams the street had shed.

Behind him flowed the tram’s refrain,
Its bell a chime through smoke and rain,
While cars crawled past in tangled streams,
Oblivious to his stitched dreams.

He played not for applause or coin,
But for the world he might rejoin—
Where echoes rise through autumn's breath,
And songs outlive the hush of death.

Bourke watched in greys and neon hue,
As music flared and nightfall grew.
The crowd passed by, then circled round—
A boy, a bow, defying sound.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 885

Melbourne Candid Series #1129 Bourke St Mall (Summer before winter this year)

 

A Lady on Bourke in Greying Light

Upon the cobbles of Bourke Street fair,
Where trams do hum through autumn air,
A lady passed in monochrome,
Her youth aglow though shades had grown.

She walked alone, yet not alone,
For in her ears sweet tunes had flown,
A Walkman played its whispered song,
A timeworn tape that sang along.

Her tresses curled like drifting flame,
Though black and white concealed her name,
She bore her spoils in papered grace,
From shops agleam in city’s face.

A bum bag slung with no pretense,
‘Twixt fashion’s flair and innocence,
She paused beneath the falling leaves,
As dusk drew in on gentle eves.

No winter yet, but chill in shade,
The light grew thin, yet undismayed,
She danced in step with music’s flow,
A fleeting ghost from long ago.

And though the years may swiftly pass,
Like tramlines threading panes of glass,
Still in that frame she softly stands—
A song, a stroll, two listening hands.

Sony A7RV 

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 884 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1124 Swanston St

 

Upon Swanston Street where tram bells chime,
In Melbourne’s heart and city’s prime,
A young chap stands in shirt and cap,
Beside his cart, a silver map.

His hands are quick, his manner keen,
He serves up swirls of cold and cream—
In cones like spires, in bowls like bells,
A moment’s joy his labour tells.

The footpath hums with boots and haste,
Yet here, they pause for sugared taste.
Beneath the clock, beneath the sky,
The city breathes, and time slips by.

A lady laughs, a child grins wide,
The chap with pride stands just beside.
No colours blaze—just black and white,
Yet in this frame, the world feels right.

The tram glides past with iron sigh,
A gull wheels low, then climbs the sky.
And still he stands, his trade the same—
A fleeting joy, a quiet flame.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 879

Melbourne Candid Series #1070 Flinders St

 

A man of broad and burdened frame
Did walk where trams and voices came;
His gaze was cast toward the stone,
As though the world were not his own.

Each step he took was slow, profound,
A rhythm lost in city sound;
Yet in his path, a silent grace—
A soul adrift, yet not erased.

The passers moved in hurried flight,
While he remained—a grounded sight;
No glance he raised, no word he said,
But bore the weight of thought instead.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 826

Melbourne Candid Series #1069 Flinders St

 

By Jackson’s wall on Flinders wide,
Where trams do groan and footsteps glide,
A lady walks in coat of grace,
With shaded eyes and steadfast face.

Her trench is tied in noble thread,
Like whispers stitched from times long dead,
Its folds command the morning air,
As though she strolled from Baudelaire.

The city hums, a restless tide,
Where strangers pass and thoughts collide;
Yet still she moves, serene, apart,
A quiet world around her heart.

The crowd flows on in clashing stream,
Each caught within their private dream,
While she, composed in poise and form,
Stands like a calm within the storm.

And over her frame the light does play,
As clouds retreat from break of day;
In monochrome, she seems to be
A ghost of grace and memory.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm 1.8 GM

Check out Candid 825

Melbourne Candid Series #1058 Russell St

 

On Russell Street where broths arise,
Steam curls beneath the dusky skies.
Each door a portal, warm and wide,
To ramen dreams that boil inside.

A gentleman in sweater thread,
With thoughtful steps and quiet tread,
Descends the lane in twilight's art,
And bites into a humble tart.

Its filling sweet, its crust so fine,
A subtle dance of fruit and brine.
While savory scents around him float,
He savors both—what shops promote,
And sweetness crumbling at his throat.

So moves he through that evening fair,
With tart in hand and ramen air—
A fusion walk of taste and time,
On Russell’s road, half prose, half rhyme.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 814

Melbourne Candid Series #1051 Swanston St

 

A young chap strides with a rhythm bold,
Curly hair wild, like stories untold.
Down Swanston Street where the city hums,
He walks to the beat of invisible drums.

Large earphones wrap his head in sound,
A private concert as feet meet ground.
Dock pants swish with a casual flair,
Swagger of youth, breeze in the air.

The trams roll by, the pigeons flee,
But he's lost in a world only he can see.
Basslines bounce through his steady pace,
A grin half-formed on his traveler's face.

Melbourne moves with its usual din,
But he’s wrapped in music, deep within.
Not chasing time, just catching a vibe,
A living pulse in the city's tribe.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 807