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 #1172 Collins St

 

In a café off Collins Street,
she sits alone,
her left cheek resting heavy
against her left hand
a gesture of weariness,
of weight too quiet to name.

The cup before her cools,
untouched,
its steam fading like
the brightness in her eyes.

Through the window,
the city moves indifferent,
but here, in her stillness,
a sorrow lingers
soft, unspoken,
like a shadow folded
into the hum of day.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 927

Melbourne Candid Series #1171 Collins St

 

At Cucina, just off Collins Street,
a glass window frames the scene
mother and daughter, side by side,
hands curled around warm cups.

Steam drifts upward,
softening their reflections,
while the city hurries past,
its footsteps blurred, unheeding.

Inside, a small island of pause:
their voices low,
woven between sips of coffee,
the sweetness of bond
outlasting the taste of foam.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 926 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1170 Collins Arcade

 

Off Collins Arcade,
a man in a wide-brimmed hat
hauls a heavy bag,
its weight tugging at his shoulder.

His shirt, thin with wear,
clings to him in the afternoon light,
nipples pressing forward,
stark as punctuation marks
against the fabric’s looseness.

Beside him his spouse keeps pace,
steps in quiet rhythm,
their figures slipping
into the current of Swanston Street,
two lives moving forward,
ordinary, unadorned,
yet etched sharply
against the city’s hum.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 925

Melbourne Candid Series #1169 Collins Arcade

 

In Collins Arcade, beneath soft light,
an elderly lady leans
elbow on polished table,
her fist a quiet cradle for the cheek
that has weathered many seasons.

She speaks gently,
words spilling like warm tea
to the friend across from her,
another lady bent toward listening,
their laughter a small, rippling hush
against the café’s clatter.

Two lives, long threaded,
rest a while among cups and chatter,
Collins Street flowing beyond the glass,
while time pauses
folded softly between them.

Sony A7RV

FE 35mm f1.4 GM

Check out Candid 924

Melbourne Candid Series #1168 Collins St

 

On Collins Street he makes his way,
A chap in shades, bold in display,
His hair — a wild Ace Ventura crown,
Suede upon suede as he strolls downtown.

A swagger of humour, a comic air,
The city glances, but few quite dare,
To match such style, so brash, so free,
A walking jest in the CBD.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 923

Melbourne Candid Series #1155 Collins Arcade

 

In Collins Arcade where footsteps glide,
A waiter moves with pride.
Plates in both hands, steady and sure,
He weaves through noon’s soft shopping blur.

A glint of light on polished dome,
Among the echoes, he's at home.
A silent dance on marble floor,
Balancing lunch and something more

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 909

Melbourne Candid Series #1145 Collins Arcade

 

In Collins Arcade where echoes hum,
A hush beneath the city's drum,
Two pairs of women, side by side,
In monochrome where time won't glide.

Porcelain cups in slender hands,
Their words like soft, unspoken bands,
The steam ascends in gentle swirls,
Like secrets traded between girls.

Their laughter dances, light and low,
A thread of silk in morning's flow,
Melbourne’s heart, though far from home,
Beats gently where these voices roam.

No grand parade, no trumpet sound,
Yet in this stillness, strength is found
In every sip, each knowing glance,
An old world weaves into the dance.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 899

Melbourne Candid Series #1143 Collins St

 

A man had his cheek supported by his right hand in front of apple laptop on collins st cafe looking beyond side way in melb

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 897

Melbourne Candid Series #1142 Collins St

 

On Collins Street beneath the grey,
Where shopfronts line the silent way,
A youth stood still, mid city stream,
As trams rolled past in muted gleam.

She held a cup, still steaming white,
Its warmth between the morning light
And spoke, with eyes both bright and kind,
To one whom age had made refined.

Her silver hair, her coat drawn neat,
A cane beside her careful feet,
She listened as the young man said
Some gentle thought, some word unsaid.

The world passed by in shades of grey,
But in their pause, the time gave way
Two strangers held in quiet grace,
A fleeting moment, face to face.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 896

Melbourne Candid Series #1136 Collins St

 

On Collins Street they walked as two,
Beneath the sky of cloud and blue.
Their steps were slow, their silence deep,
As though they bore a care they’d keep.

The husband wore his dark disguise,
His sunglasses veiling thoughtful eyes.
While on her head, in morning glare,
Her shades lay tangled in her hair.

Together yet each mind alone,
They wandered through the heart of stone—
In Melbourne's light, their shadows cast,
By present fears and echoes past.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 890

Melbourne Candid Series #1121 Collins St

 

On Collins Street beneath the glare,
A man with short-cropped wind-tossed hair
Twists his body, leans askew,
As if the sun had split him through.

His eyes are shut, a fleeting shield
Against the blaze the noon revealed.
A T-shirt clings in summer’s heat,
A bag swings low with rhythmic beat.

Behind, the crowd flows like a stream,
Each face absorbed in its own dream.
But he, alone in this brief fight,
Moves through the shimmer, squints at light.

A moment caught—so strangely bright—
Of man and motion, sun and spite.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 877

Melbourne Candid Series #1120 Collins Arcade

 

Inside Collins Arcade, where shadows play,
A boutique glows in monochrome grey.
A gentleman stands, with a beard so neat,
In silence poised, his ritual complete.

Jars and flasks in orderly row,
Spices and oils with a fragrant flow.
His hands, like echoes of time gone past,
Move with care, deliberate and fast.

He measures, pours, then seals with grace,
As if each condiment held a trace
Of old-world charm and whispered lore,
Within that modest Melbourne store.

The arcade hums with ghostly tread,
Footsteps soft where dreams are fed.
And in that frame of black and white,
He works—a figure bathed in light.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 876

Melbourne Candid Series #1066 Collins St

 

On Collins way, in shadowed hour,
Came forth a wight in mask of black,
His satchel swayed with silent power,
No kin he hailed, nor turned him back.

A dame drew nigh, in lenses broad,
Like sun-craft glass from days gone pale,
Her visage still, her step unflawed,
She passed as ghost over stony trail.

By roadside bare, the chairs lay strewn—
Cold-forged seats of iron pride;
No soul did claim, nor mark their rune,
Abandoned there, where time doth bide.

So wandered they, beneath sun’s dim light,
Strangers twain in city’s breath,
Each bearing tales veiled from sight,
In silence brushed by life and death.

Sony A7RV

FE 35mm f1.4 GM

Check out Candid 822 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1048 Collins St

 

On Collins Street where traffic swells,
A rider waits as red light dwells.
With jacket thick 'gainst wind and rain,
He leans upon his silent frame.

A satchel wide upon his back,
Stuffed full along its heavy track,
His front wheel strays beyond the line,
Encroaching where the walkers dine.

Yet on his head, a helmet worn—
A modest grace in urban scorn.
He lingers still, both still and sly,
Beneath the watchful Melbourne sky.

Sony A7RV

FE 35mm f1.4 GM

Check out Candid 804

Melbourne Candid Series #1022 Collins St

 

Upon Collins, where footsteps glide,
The city hums in bustling stride.
Yet eyes fall not on sights anew,
But screens that glow in glassy hue.

In hand it rests, both bright and keen,
A modern charm—this silent screen.
No glance to skies, no words take flight,
Just scrolling hands in neon light.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 778

Melbourne Candid Series #1017 Collins St

 

Through streets of gold where merchants call,
She wandered light ‘neath evening’s thrall.
With weary gaze and laden hands,
She left behind the bustling stands.

And as my shutter caught the scene,
Her eyes shut soft, lost in between.
Through heavy glasses, she turned away,
A fleeting ghost of spent-out day.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 774 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1007 Royal Arcade, Collins St, Melbourne

 

Amidst the throng of humanity, each of us stands solitary, lost in our own world.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 765

Melbourne Candid Series #1005 Royal Arcade Collins St

 

She carried a great many garments, though the air was not so cold as to warrant such burden.

Stepping forth from the Royal Arcade, she moved with measured pace, her footsteps falling upon a floor patterned like a checkerboard, its polished surface gleaming beneath the soft glow of morning light.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 763