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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Along Flinders Street the footsteps beat,
A chap moves steady through the heat.
Dark glasses hide his guarded gaze,
A cap pulled low in city haze.
Upon his chest, in black and white,
The Collingwood crest declares its might.
He walks with pride, both firm and free,
A living note in Melbourne’s symphony.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 922
Off Exhibition, the city’s hum,
Where lights command and footsteps drum.
A man in shades, like silver screen,
Stands with his boy, a tender scene.
They wait for green, the crossing’s call,
The child’s small hand enclosed in all.
Beside them stands, with comic air,
A hat askew, a traveller there.
He tugs his strap, adjusts his load,
A wanderer upon the road.
Two moments caught, yet worlds apart—
The star, the fool, both play their part.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 921
On Little Lonsdale, the footsteps flow,
Tourists gather, faces aglow.
A man in cap and darkened shade,
Bows his head where silence stayed.
One lady lifts her searching eyes,
Shirt round her waist beneath the skies.
Another bends with subtle grace,
Adjusts her ear pod in her place.
And one, absorbed, in steady tone,
Frames the world upon her phone.
Among the crowd, in fleeting streams,
Each holds a fragment of their dreams.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 920
In Hosier Lane where colours sing,
And painted walls to life still cling,
Two travellers pause in the sun’s embrace,
Shades on their eyes, the world in their face.
The phone glows bright with its secret chart,
Guiding their steps like a beating heart.
Among murals bold in the laneway’s hue,
They search for a path, yet the art finds them too.
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Check out Candid 919
On Swanston Street, where trams hum low,
An Indian man lets the city flow.
Cup in hand, steam curling high,
Like incense drifting to the sky.
The bench holds still, the world moves fast,
Moments like this are never meant to last.
Sip by sip, in the midday light,
He drinks his peace in the urban flight.
Sony A7RV
FE 20-70mm f4 G
Check out
