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
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
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
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
In a pasta house off DeGraves’ way,
I pause to watch the diners stay;
They line the glass, a living show,
As if on stage for all to know.
Forks lift slow in the window’s frame,
Their laughter soft, their gestures same;
And I, outside, can scarce convey
Why they delight in such display.
Do they not feel the watcher’s eyes,
The passing crowd, the small surmise?
Or is it joy—to see, be seen—
A theatre made of glass between?
Sony A7RV
FE 14mm f1.8 GM
Check out Candid 931 and FACE OFF
Along DeGrave Street the sunlight falls,
A sharp, unyielding blade on walls;
It cuts the air, it paints the ground,
And drives long shadows all around.
Pedestrians drift through molten glare,
Their faces lit, half-gold, half-bare;
Each step becomes a fleeting sign
Of light’s command, of day’s design.
The city breathes in heat and flame,
Yet still the narrow lane remains—
A passage where the sun declares
Its rule upon the lives it glares.
Sony A7RV
FE 24mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 930
Beneath the stone of Flinders Street,
An old man moves on steady feet,
A paper map held firm, yet frail,
As if to chart a vanished trail.
Beside him walks a boy of youth,
His grin bright, his step uncouth,
A sun-glass crown upon his hair,
A careless halo, light as air.
Two figures bound by time’s design,
One tracing roads, one yet to find,
Together in the city’s hum
The past and future walk as one.
Sony A7RV
35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 929
Off Bourke Street Mall,
she sits upon a steel bench,
an elderly Asian woman,
hands clasped firm upon her bag
as though it were a small anchor.
Her gaze drifts outward,
past the restless river of shoes,
the tide of passing strangers
that rises, breaks, and folds again.
Behind her, the bench gleams cold;
before her, the city surges on.
She waits in her stillness,
a quiet figure rooted,
while the world keeps hurrying by.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 928
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
