On a bench along Swanston Street they form a queue of thought
one hunts for keys, one scrolls for meaning, one negotiates with a sandwich half-bought.
A child conducts crumbs like a symphony small,
while the city performs its usual rush-call.
Across the way, a couple debates with theatrical flair
love, like traffic, pausing… then going nowhere.
Meanwhile the bench holds steady, wise and bemused:
everyone seated, yet differently used.
Sony A7RV
FE 35mm f1.4 GM
Check out Candid 1174
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
On Bourke Street Mall where footsteps pass,
He sits alone on iron brass
A bearded man, both still and slow,
Eyes cast down where shadows grow.
His coffee cup rests in his hand,
No rush to sip, no firm demand.
The world moves by in steady stream,
While he dissolves into a dream.
The hum of trams, the chatter near,
All fold into a silence clear.
As if the ground could speak below,
He listens deep to what he knows.
No sign, no plea, no spoken word,
Just thoughts that flutter, faint, unheard.
A quiet figure none may see
But in his stillness, poetry.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 902
A photography group does this in Carlton Park for demonstration.
Panasonic G9
Leica 12-60mm f2.8-4
Check out Candid 80
