Melbourne Candid Series #1293 Flagstaff Garden

 

In Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne,
on grass worn smooth by time and feet,
the dancer breaks the afternoon open.

Feathers arc from the crown
long, banded quills flung wide,
as if the wind itself were harnessed
and taught to keep formation.
Painted bone and hollowed eyes
fix the face in ritual calm,
death not as ending,
but as pattern and return.

An arm cuts forward, firm and exact,
the rattle clenched like a held heartbeat.
Metal plates flash across the chest,
each piece catching light,
each sound answering movement.
The body bends, advances, commands space
a geometry of step and stamp,
ancient in cadence, precise in force.

Behind, the crowd gathers into blur:
soft hats, folded arms, lifted phones,
modern shapes dissolving
into witness rather than presence.
They stand at the edge of the circle,
quieted by the seriousness of motion.

The garden holds it all
trees steady, paths attentive,
the city paused for a breath.
Once a parade ground, once a place of drills,
now it hosts another discipline:
dance as memory,
dance as declaration,
each movement inscribed briefly
into the air,
then gone.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1050

Melbourne Candid Series #1275 Flagstaff Garden

 

In Flagstaff Garden,
colour has slipped away—
leaving only the hush
of black and white.

A woman in traditional Mexican dress
moves like a soft echo
from another time.
Her embroidered skirt,
no longer bright,
unfurls in shades of cloud and ink.

She holds a cup with both hands,
its pale rim catching
a thin silver glint of light.
Every step she takes
sends a quiet ripple
through the grayscale air
a dance made of shadows,
memory, and breath.

The festival hum fades
to a distant murmur,
as if the world is listening
through old film grain.
Pigeons lift like smudged brushstrokes,
trees stand in charcoal stillness.

And she
she becomes the single moving spark
in this monochrome garden,
turning the absence of colour
into its own kind of beauty,
a dance that glows softly
in the language of dusk
and silver rain.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 1032 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #31

 

Olympus E520

150mm f2 

This old system of four third cost me tons of money. Within a year of purchase, Olympus makes the system invalid switching to micro four third. I remembered I was so angry at the time

Federation dance 

Melbourne Candid Series #953 Box Hill Central

 

Three noble patrons, seated upon the side benches of a vendor's humble stand, within the market halls of Box Hill Central. Their presence graced the air with a quiet charm, as the day's commerce flowed around them in a harmonious dance

Sony A7RV

Laowa 9mm f5.6 

Check out Candid 712

Melbourne Candid Series #1237 Albert Lake

 

By Albert Park Lake in Melbourne’s chill,
a young chap stood, poised and still
man bun tight, a Viking’s air,
the morning light caught in his hair.

In his hands, a slender staff—
at either end, twin circles laughed,
spinning, flashing, slicing air,
a dance of metal, bold and rare.

He moved with rhythm, fierce and free,
each turn a whispered melody,
the lake reflected sky and flame,
and he—untamed—without a name.

Joggers slowed, the breeze grew keen,
the water shimmered, silver-green;
the blades kept turning, wild delight
a Norse ghost playing in the light.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 993

Melbourne Candid Series #1099 Latrobe St

 

A flicker, a blur in black and white,
LaTrobe Street hums with ghostly light.
Figures drift through evening’s haze,
Like dreams that walk in city’s maze.

Costumes swirl in shadowed gleam,
Half-seen faces from a fevered dream.
Masks and laughter, heels that glide,
Through the grayscale pulse of Melbourne’s side.

Sequins shimmer, then disappear,
Caught in headlight ghosts that veer.
A cape, a crown, a tangled wig —
Moments vanish, faint and big.

No color names the scene tonight,
Just monochrome and borrowed light.
A party spills from time and street,
Where strangers in disguise all meet.

The tram-line hums a distant song,
While blurred legs dance the night along.
And memory holds what lens can't keep —
A moving dream, half-lost in sleep.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 855

Melbourne Candid Series #999 Melbourne Central

 

Upon these streets where souls do meet, In endless streams they place their feet, From every realm, all walks of life, They weave together, joy and strife.

With varied dreams and paths they've known, They tread the stones of urban throng, In this grand tapestry, untold, Their tales of wonder now unfold.

So rich the chorus, sweet and grand, Of life’s own symphony, unplanned, In streets where countless lives convene, A timeless dance, a living scene.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 757

Melbourne Candid Series #1046 Elizabeth St

 

Down Elizabeth Street he strides alone,
a slender thread in the city’s tone,
jacket sharp in the autumn breeze,
moving swift with elegant ease.

Fancy ear pods crown his ears,
drowning out the city's cheers—
lost in rhythm, thought, or beat,
a silent world beneath his feet.

Glass and tramlights dance on skin,
as day and noise blur deep within.
He walks a line both near and far,
tethered to sound like a distant star.

Melbourne hums its morning tune,
but he moves on, immune, immune—
a figure drawn in motion's ink,
on city streets that barely blink.

Sony A7RV

FE 20-70mm f4 G

Check out Candid 802 and FACE OFF

Melbourne Candid Series #1295 Flagstaff Garden

 

Beneath the white pavilion’s quiet span,
They stand aligned, their faces turned away,
With shoulders set as ancient rhythms ran
Through stone and fire at break of ritual day.

A crown of feathers breaks the muted air,
Dark plumes like rays from some forgotten sun;
Each quill a memory worn with solemn care,
Of empires lost, yet never truly done.

The metal glints upon the woven breast,
Cold silver shaped by hands that knew the gods;
It bears the weight of oath, of trial, of test,
Of earth once fed by blood and marked by rods.

They do not speak. Their silence holds command.
The past stands breathing in their measured pose.
Time bends, obedient to their stance and hand,
As history in living motion flows.

O watcher, learn what stillness dares to teach:
That roots run deep where footsteps touch the ground;
What ages take away, the body keeps
In dance, the lost are found, the dead resound.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1052

Melbourne Candid Series #1102 Latrobe St

 

Through glass, I gaze where lights softly gleam,
A penthouse perch above the stream
Of La Trobe’s hum, where city sighs
Rise gently under dusking skies.

Inside, a hush before the flare—
The kitchen stirs with quiet care.
White coats move in a measured dance,
A prelude born of skill and chance.

Knives whisper, steam begins to climb,
Cocktails shimmer, caught in time.
Laughter waits in crystal’s ring,
As chefs and waiters, deft, unseen,
Prepare the night’s unfolding art—
Each plate a story, every start
A promise scented, warm, and bright,
Beneath the Melbourne evening light.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 858

Melbourne Candid Series #1279 Nicholson St

 

A woman in tight-cut city stride,
Coffee warming one sure hand,
Her phone a glow she will not hide,
A compass she alone can understand.

She walks the street without a glance,
Skipping the world before her feet,
Lost in her screen’s unfolding dance,
Threading through the urban beat.

Traffic hums and footsteps blur,
Yet she moves on, absorbed, alone
A modern wanderer wrapped in her

Small bright kingdom of glass and phone

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1036

Melbourne Candid Series #481 Queen Victoria Market

Preparing for dragon dance

Sony A7RV

FE 14mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 340

 

Melbourne Candid Series #1161 Swanston St

 

Off Swanston Street where trams glide past,
A gent sits down, the crowd flows fast.
His frame is broad, his shirt stretched tight,
A beer gut round, in grayscale light.

But hush the world and let him play
His fingers dance, then drift away.
A melody both rich and clear
Pours from the keys, and draws you near.

No stage, no suit, no grand parade,
Just soul and song in light and shade.
Each note a tale, each pause a breath,
A beauty born from life and depth.

And though the photo’s black and white,
You hear the sound, you feel the light.
A gentle giant, slouched with grace,
Making music in a passing place.

Sony A7RV

FE 50mm f1.2 GM

Check out Candid 916

Melbourne Candid Series #121

 

She is always there in Bourke St Mall doing a simple dance routine that does not stand out in the crowd

Credit to the persistence 

Pentax K20D

Fa 31mm f1.8 limited

Bourke Street

 

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 #70

 

Hip Hop dance at Federation Square 

Canon 7D

EF 135mm f2 L

Candid Gallery

Melbourne Candid Series #68

 

Street Dancing 

Flinders Studio

Canon 7D 

EF 135mm f2 L

You can see similar snap at 

Dance

Melbourne Candid Series #1223 Flagstaff Garden

 

Beneath Flagstaff’s plane trees, in a borrowed age,
They move like echoes freed from stone and page.
Feathers crown the brow, bone-white masks declare
The dance of life with death entwined in air.

Drums speak softly where the grass is worn,
Old worlds awaken in the Melbourne morn.
Between the paths, where past and present meet,
Ritual breathes again on urban feet.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 1069

Melbourne Candid Series #545 Queen Victoria Market

 

Dragon Dance - a cheap version

Sony A7RV

FE 14mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 310

Melbourne Candid Series #1058 Russell St

 

On Russell Street where broths arise,
Steam curls beneath the dusky skies.
Each door a portal, warm and wide,
To ramen dreams that boil inside.

A gentleman in sweater thread,
With thoughtful steps and quiet tread,
Descends the lane in twilight's art,
And bites into a humble tart.

Its filling sweet, its crust so fine,
A subtle dance of fruit and brine.
While savory scents around him float,
He savors both—what shops promote,
And sweetness crumbling at his throat.

So moves he through that evening fair,
With tart in hand and ramen air—
A fusion walk of taste and time,
On Russell’s road, half prose, half rhyme.

Sony A7RV

FE 135mm f1.8 GM

Check out Candid 814