‘It was a true Melbourne day of hammering down rain, then the next minute blinding sunlight,” says photographer Kim Wallis, who also goes by Kimboid, of the afternoon she took this photo. “The weather is always an adventure here.”
Kimboid describes her city as a melting pot of “five million people who have come from around the globe to reside in the same place”. For the last 15 years, she has been photographing commuters. “Our train system is a great economic equaliser,” she says. “No matter your background or pay packet, trains are the easiest way to reach the city, so everyone ends up on one at some point.”
Kimboid was heading home from her office in the central business district when she spotted this stranger standing on the platform across the tracks. As she took her photograph, the sun came out. “I like when commuters are anonymous,” she says. “You can fill the space with your own mind. Each of us is unique but we all feel the same emotions, just at varying levels at varying times in our lives, heightened and lessened by our life’s experiences,” she adds. “Within others you can find yourself.”
When editing the image, which she took using a Google Pixel 8 Pro, she noticed the green coat attracts the viewer’s attention to the anonymous person, so she applied some saturation. “Photographers should play with it more, increasing and decreasing where needed,” she adds. “You can learn to use it like a painter would.”
