Melbourne Candid Series #1263 Flagstaff Garden

 

Two men beneath matching caps,
T-shirts blazing a Brazilian logo,
stand anchored in the Saturday hum
of Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne.

One is bent to the grill,
cutting meat with a craftsman’s calm
smoke curling around him
like a quiet anthem
lifted from far-off shores.

The other,
sunglasses dark as river stone,
faces my lens without flinching
a held breath of curiosity,
or challenge,
or just the stillness
between sizzle and song.

Around them the garden thrums:
kids running, parrots chattering,
wind brushing the old trees awake.

And in the middle of it all,
two men in the same hat and shirt
briefly become a scene
a small, vivid stitch
in Flagstaff’s wandering tapestry.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1019

Melbourne Candid Series #1262 Flagstaff Garden

 

Two lady performers,
floral loops crowning their hair
like dawn-warmed garlands,
let the last notes of their music
settle into the soft lawns
of Flagstaff Garden.

They lean toward their support staff,
quiet laughter blooming
between them like late-spring petals,
their words drifting in the air
where melodies once lived.

The garden listens
trees tilting in approval,
pigeons pausing mid-step
as the performers, unmasked from the stage,
become simply two friends
gathering themselves
after giving their hearts to the day.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1018

Melbourne Candid Series #1261 Flagstaff Garden

 

Two lady performers
floral loops crowning their hair
like small, deliberate blossoms
stand before twin microphones
in the green hush of Flagstaff Garden.

The guitarist begins first:
fingers like soft rain on warm timber,
each chord a slow unfurling
of late-afternoon gold.

Beside her, the violinist lifts her bow
as though summoning a dawn,
and from the strings bloom tones
so tremulous, so fine,
they seem spun from the breath
between wind and dreaming.

Their voices rise
two petals carried on the same breeze
braiding through guitar warmth
and violin shimmer,
floating over the lawn
like a blessing that knows no name.

For a moment, time leans in,
listening.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1017 FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1260 Flagstaff Garden

 

An Indian chap in a weathered cap
stands behind his hawker stall
at Flagstaff Garden
a small kingdom of smoke and sizzle
claimed for the evening.

He brushes sauces onto skewers
with the precision of habit,
lacquered reds and browns
catching the flare of the grill.

No ritual of sharing here
just trade,
just hunger meeting craft,
just the quiet exchange
of money for flavour,
the brief transaction
between a vendor and the passing world,
each skewer handed over
like a moment that never lingers.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1016

Melbourne Candid Series #1259 Flagstaff Garden

 

A young woman in dark sunglasses
leans toward a waiting skewer,
the sun catching on the metal,
on her smile half-hidden.

Behind her, the Mexican mural
spills its colour across the food truck
chilies, saints, and swirling blossoms
a feast painted before the feast.

She lifts the skewer,
a small moment in a busy day,
yet framed by all that colour
it becomes its own bright story.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1015

Melbourne Candid Series #1258 Flagstaff Garden

 

Two vendors at the Mexican stall
leaned close in quiet debate,
their words rising like warm spice
into the afternoon air.

Behind them, in the soft green hush
of Flagstaff Garden,
two women—one young, one weathered by years
turned toward my waiting lens.

The younger with curiosity,
the elder with knowing calm—
as if they had long understood
that every moment, once seen,
becomes a story.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1014

Melbourne Candid Series #1257 Flagstaff Garden

 

In Flagstaff Garden’s tempered light,
a man prepares his borrowed face
fine strokes of crimson, coal, and white,
a quiet ritual in the open space.

Brush whispers over skin like breath,
each line a memory, each curve a vow;
the living paying homage to death,
the ancient blooming through him now.

Around him, Melbourne hums its day,
trams singing past in their iron tune,
yet here he stands in calm display,
a blossom painted for the moon.

For Mexico’s bright festival,
he dons the mask of joy and sorrow
a face that says the past is full,
and we must greet it come tomorrow.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1013

Melbourne Candid Series #1256 Flagstaff Garden

 

Beneath the tent’s soft shadowed hue,
He stands in stillness, eyes of blue,
A vendor framed by noon’s slow heat,
Where smells of food and voices meet.

His shirt declares with cheerful play,
Baleadas—Everyday!
Yet in his gaze, a quiet depth,
A thought unspoken, softly kept.

The flag behind him folds and sways,
A whisper of far sunlit days,
While in his hands, the moment stays,
Between the pause of work and gaze.

Around, the fair moves loud and wide,
But he remains—calm, dignified,
A poet’s poise in market’s din,
The world reflected deep within.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 

Check out Candid 1012

Melbourne Candid Series #1255 Flagstaff Garden

 

Beneath a tent of bright display,
Where “Spanish Gourmet” banners sway,
They stand behind the glassy frame,
Each stirring pans of saffron flame.

The scent of rice, the sun’s embrace,
A glint of warmth on every face,
She smiles mid-thought, her eyes alight,
He turns, half-shadow, caught in light.

The crowd drifts past in hungry streams,
The air is thick with midday dreams,
And laughter hums, both near and far,
Like tapas shared beneath a star.

In oil and spice their hours blend,
A fleeting moment without end—
Two cooks, two hearts, in heat and song,
Where simple work makes daylight long.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1012

Melbourne Candid Series #1254 Nicholson St Melbourne Museum

 

Along the polished floor they stride,
Tasmanian oak with marble’s pride,
Light bends and dances on the glass,
As moments in their rhythm pass.

Four figures move through space and gleam,
Half in motion, half in dream,
A teacher leads with steady grace,
The students follow, pace by pace.

The air is bright, the ceiling high,
Reflections stretch, and footsteps sigh,
A hush of learning, calm, contained,
Where wonder walks, unstrained, unfeigned.

In Melbourne’s hall of thought and art,
They trace the future’s beating heart
A quiet bond, both firm and free,
Between the young and memory.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1010

Melbourne Candid Series #1253 Melbourne Museum Nicholson St

 

A pair of teachers, calm and bright,
One dusk of skin, one morning light,
They lead their class through open air,
Where learning hums beyond compare.

The floor beneath—Tasmanian oak,
And marble veins where sunlight broke,
Reflected walls in gentle gleam,
A city’s heart, a scholar’s dream.

He walks ahead with measured tone,
She calls the roll, their voices known,
And children trail in ordered streams,
Their chatter soft as woven dreams.

Within those halls of thought and care,
Two guides stand patient, firm, and fair,
The Melbourne day moves calm and wide,
With knowledge walking side by side.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1009

Melbourne Candid Series #1252 Flinders St

 

A bearded man, like Potter grown,
With city dust his cloak and crown,
Walks Flinders Street, the noon aflame,
Yet calm, as though the world were tame.

Beside him moves a lady fair,
In white, with sunlight in her hair,
Both veiled in shades, both cool, composed,
Their steps in quiet rhythm closed.

Trams hum by, the pavements gleam,
The air is thick with city dream,
And for a breath, the crowd makes way—
Two figures passing, bright as day.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1008

Melbourne Candid Series #1251 Flinders St

 

A man in shades on Flinders Street,
Crouched mid-step, in pose discreet,
A fist beneath his sculpted chin,
As if deep thought were caged within.

Beside him walked, with mirrored eyes,
His blonde companion, cool, precise,
Her stride unbent, her silence sleek,
The sunlight glinting on her cheek.

The crowd flowed past — a restless stream,
Yet they moved through, a frozen dream,
Two figures framed in city glare,
Half in fashion, half in air.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check Candid 1007 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1250 Exhibition St

 

Two large ladies, side by side,
One in pants, one skirted wide,
No laughter shared, no word, no glance,
Just silence in their steadfast stance.

At Exhibition Street they wait,
The red light hums, the hour late,
Beside them, old man, lean and spare,
Clutches his strap with practiced care.

His cap pulled low, his gaze ahead,
The city murmurs, faintly fed,
He braces, poised for the signal’s gleam,
Green will cut through this heavy dream.

Three still figures in the rain of sound,
Each earthbound, yet unbound,
Melbourne holds its breath a beat,
Before the lights release their feet.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1006

Melbourne Candid Series #1249 Elizabeth St

 

Among the crowd on Elizabeth Street,
two ladies — one wide, one thin 
walked side by side in easy rhythm,
their laughter woven with the din.

My camera caught their fleeting glance,
a moment framed between our gaze 
they pointed, smiling, half in jest,
half curious at my quiet craze.

The traffic hummed, the sunlight slid,
past tramlines tangled, silver, near 
and in that instant, brief yet bold,
the city’s heart drew gently near.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1005

Melbourne Candid Series #1248 Bourke St Mall

 

A chap in shorts, legs crossed with ease,
sits on the iron bench, sunlit, at Bourke Street Mall 
the noon warmth paints his knees with gold,
the city hums, a tram bell calls.

Shadows drift like passing moods,
a breeze tugs softly at his sleeve;
around him, shoppers flow like tides,
but he — he stays, content to breathe.

Melbourne glows in tempered glass,
and time, for him, forgets to move 
a chap in shorts beneath the sun,
at peace with nothing left to prove.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1004

Melbourne Candid Series #1247 Bourke St Mall

 

He stands beneath the wide city sky,
cap pulled low, T-shirt loose,
hands alive upon the electric keys
a melody rising above the noon.

Shoppers drift like quiet waves,
trams sigh past in steel refrain,
yet his voice threads through it all
a bright pulse woven into motion.

Coins fall softly in his open case,
but he does not count—he sings,
eyes half-closed, body swaying
as if the music were wind inside him.

The city becomes his stage and choir:
awnings flutter, heels keep time,
pigeons turn slow circles overhead.
And for a moment, Bourke Street glows
each note a spark against the hum,
the man and the mall breathing as one.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1003

Melbourne Candid Series #1246 Swanston St

 

A row of men in caps sit still
along the stone bench, shoulder to shoulder
a quiet congregation of screens.
Each head bowed,
not in prayer but in signal,
their thumbs murmuring in perfect rhythm.

The city swirls around them
trams clang, pigeons scatter,
light flickers across their faces
like water over stone.
They do not look up.
The world passes in reflections
on glass and metal and moving lips.

Time, too, seems to pause here
a row of lives humming softly
in their separate orbits,
united by invisible threads of light.
And in that stillness,
the stone bench holds them gently,
as if the street itself were listening.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1002

Melbourne Candid Series #1245 Flindes St

 

An Indian chap leans toward the light,
camera poised, eyes half-narrowed,
his fingers steady as if tuning a string.
He glances at the small blue glow
of the LCD—his private universe
where a fragment of Melbourne
is trapped in digital silence.

Behind him, tables hum with midday talk:
cutlery glints, coffee curls in steam,
laughter drifts like music caught
between brick and awning.
The city moves, yet he is still
framing the world’s brief shimmer,
a moment folding into another.

Somewhere, a tram bell rings,
and the wind carries the scent of roast and rain.
He lowers the camera, half-smiling,
as though what he sought
wasn’t in the image,
but in the act of seeing itself.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 

Check out Candid 1001 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1244 Flinders St

 

The crowd flows both ways
a tide of shoes, glances, breath.
Flinders Street hums in gold and grit,
trams sighing, wind tugging at sleeves.

Through my lens, the city unfolds:
a tall young man ahead, scratching his hair,
lost somewhere between thought and motion,
his gesture framed by afternoon light.

Behind him—a chap and his girl pause,
their gaze caught in the circle of my glass.
For a heartbeat we share a secret:
the stillness that lives inside movement.

Pedestrians split and merge like water,
faces flicker, dissolve, reform
and I, unseen except for the camera’s eye,
stand in the river of human time,
catching one instant before it drifts away.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1000