As Grand Narratives Fade, Vignettes Flourish
Photoessay, Photography, Street Photography, Sydney
Sitting in the interstitial between leaving one city and arriving in the next, I reflect back on Sydney, and Australia as a whole. The grand narratives are fading into irrelevance, and they are being replaced by vignettes.
Whether through my own images are those of others, I see Sydney differently in the fragments of memory that remain, I see Sydney with more fondness and reverence and I absolutely do not take it for granted that ultimately I will return there and get to call it home.
The images in this photo essay were taken a few weeks ago - small impressions - a shimmer of water seen from a boat’s deck, the quiet geometry of the city's streets, the tilt of light on sandstone, the hush before a ferry pulls away from the quay, the rhythm of footsteps mingling with the hum of the city.
Each frame is a reminder that cities are best understood not as a whole, but as a sequence of fleeting encounters — glimpses that stay with us long after the journey ends.
:: Rand
All images and text are copyright Rand Leeb-du Toit, 2025.