Photography | The Daily Norm

Apr 4

Barcelona | A photographic miscellany

Now I must admit, I did get waylaid ever so slightly. Having begun my account of my recent weekend trip to Barcelona at the beginning of last month, I neglected to post what must be the most important post of them all – my good old miscellaneous photograph collection. Such is the drawback of organising a solo art exhibition, the likes of which will be alive and kicking some 6 weeks from now, and the preparation for which is taking up almost every minute of my spare time. So in amongst all of this stress, being able to sit back to write this blog and reflect upon the good times, like Barcelona, provides the perfect antidote, and the process of choosing a selection of photos to show Barcelona at its best has been almost as enjoyable as taking them in the first place.

So why not come on a little journey with me, through the cobbled dark streets of the atmospheric Gothic Quarter to meet the Cathedral geese and sun streaked palaces, or through the old squares whose houses covered with elegant stucco and adorned with ornate ironwork street lamps. Let’s take a small trip to the soft sandy shores of the Costa Brava, or to see the lush slope-hugging gardens of the Montjuic. Then there’s the modern buildings with their abstract reflections, and the paseo by the sea where birds stretch their wings magnificently. It will only be a short stroll – as long as it takes you to flick through the photos below. But in that moment, let these photographs transform you, to the beating bustling heart of Spain’s most vibrant city.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Apr 3

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Vintage-dusk | A floral installation

Following on from the Spring theme of yesterday’s photo-post, and in equal celebration of the onset of Spring, I decided to both fill my home with flowers, and share the results with you on The Daily Norm. I find that flowers are such an important part of a home. A different bunch of flowers can transform a room from one season to the next; their scent can bring nature alive within the confines of four walls; and their colour can be used to either enhance or improve an interior scheme. So although having regular flowers is something of an indulgence at £10-£20 per time, I’d rather spend on that and it last a week or more, than an equal spend on wine which disappears in one night (although lets face it, I do plenty of that as well…).

Rationalisation aside, time for me to introduce my latest floral scheme. It’s something of a contemporary design – more of an installation in effect, but I think it looks pretty good in the centre of my dining table. Playing on the vintage theme, I have combined both heavily gilded vintage gold frames with beautiful faded dusky pink roses. Being unable to afford over a dozen of the kind, I opted for 6 showpiece roses, and supplemented with contrasting green thistle and some purple foliage (whose name escapes me). All of these I placed in a variety of sized and shaped glass bottles, one stem in each, and positioned these in various locations within my vintage frame “installation”. I took the idea of single stem bottles from the Hotel Estherea in Amsterdam, where I stayed at the beginning of 2012, and whose daily sprays of fresh flowers made a huge impression on my design sensibilities. It’s a clear departure from the traditional vase, and with all of those different panes of glass standing side by side and reflecting through each other, the grouped bottles have an almost chandelier effect – the perfect degree of decadence for my vintage theme.

A vintage themed contemporary installation, perfect for the modern design-conscious home.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Apr 2

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Spring has arrived!

There is nothing quite like the arrival of Spring. That first day of the year when it’s warm enough to keep the window open; when the wafts of mild air carry in their gently undulating waves the subtle scent of blossom, warmth, and hope. When you first breathe in that clement air, drinking deep on the inherent optimism it provides, you wonder how you were ever able to survive the winter in the first place – how it was possible to endure those short dark days; brisk walks hunched up against the cold; a period that now seems intolerable in this new Spring light.

I accept that we’ve been pretty lucky this year. The winter was not a cold one in the South of England – I never even had to cover my balcony plants from any frost or icy air. And the result of these clement conditions means that this year my plants are sprouting new shoots early, whereas last year they were doing so two months late. But it’s the light, or lack of it, that makes the Winter so hard – never seeing one’s home in the light of day; long dark evenings that seem to bury you in a state of soporific hypnosis. But it’s all change now, and with last weekend came the return of Light, as clocks went forwards, thus giving us longer bright evenings and heralding the onset of the summer. It also brought with it some much welcome warmth, which in turn newly embraced the fresh arrival of spring flowers everywhere.

So it is in celebration of the arrival of Spring that I share with you a whole host of Spring-themed photos which I have been taking on my travels in and around London. Being one of the greenest cities in Europe, the new fresh scent of Spring is tangible in the London air, as floral wafts spread outwards from the city’s flower-packed parks and gardens and blossom-rich trees. There is simply no better time to be in this city, whose streets and spaces are full of the hope and regeneration that comes with this new season, bustling with happy over-coat free people, and with the colour and freshness of Spring. Goodbye winter: welcome happiness.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Mar 18

Barcelona | Day 3: Up, over and out

What with our last day being on a Monday, Barcelona’s museums and galleries had pretty much shut up shop for the day, as they do on every Monday of each week. This pattern of closures, which appears to be followed across the continent, bamboozles me, especially in a tourist centre such as Paris or Barcelona, where frankly tourists don’t care whether it’s Monday or Friday – they still want to see it. Wouldn’t it be more economically productive to have staff working different shifts to cover a 7 day week rather than close the museum for an entire day? And if cities are so intent on closing one day a week, can’t the attractions close on different days so that tourists aren’t left, one day a week, utterly out in the cold? (I should proudly point out that for tourists coming to London, you will find all of our top galleries – the National Gallery, Tate, the Courtauld, the British Museum open 7 days a week, thank you all the same).

Mercifully on this last Monday in Barcelona, we were not left out in the cold, because despite the museum doors being closed, we were able to enjoy one last burst of warm weather. And where better to enjoy those clement conditions than by heading to the places from which we could best admire this city from above? Seeking something of an unusual vista rather than the normal tourist havens of Park Guell and the old funfair at Tibidabo (which is open even fewer days of the week), our first stop was up a very creaky and somewhat scary small lift to the roof of the old gothic cathedral. Being up amongst the spires and gargoyles of this gothic icon made for a very unique platform from which to admire Barcelona’s old town, and the wider spread of its urban sprawl, down to the coast and up to the fringes of the mountains.

Views from the roof of Barcelona’s Cathedral

But as far as I am concerned, the best view of all Barcelona can be found, not in the centre, nor North of the city, but from atop the hill of Montjuic. Montjuic can often be overlooked by those stuck rigidly to the tourist trail caught up in the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter and La Ribera and up into the Eixample amongst the Gaudi masterpieces. But this hill, which overlooks the city from its position south west of the city, and which plunges down from a heady peak almost into the sea below, was the centre point of the 1992 Olympic games which relaunched the city to the world at large. It is also a hub of culture and reclamation, boasting several gardens, the Miro Foundation, and the spectacular National Art Museum of Catalan Art at the Palau Nacional/

Of course both of the latter were shut (after all, it was Monday), but our concern was not with the insides of buildings, but with the extensive open spaces, and the unbeatable view from the top. In order to reach the mountain, we enjoyed the majestic approach which extends from the Plaça d’España to the Palau Nacional, a broad triumphal avenue constructed for the 1929 World Exhibition and which, at certain times of the year, boasts the additional splendour of row after row of spectacular fountains which shoot up into the air like a thousand sparkling columns.

The Palau Nacional on Montjuic and the stunning view from the top

Sadly there were no active fountains in sight for us, but the added benefit of this was the opportunity to hear the first birdsong of Spring as we ascended the hill, and gradually moved away from the concentrated bustle of the city. As soon as you reach the top, the spectacular views of Barcelona are available to be enjoyed from practically every vantage point. From in front of the Palau Nacional, the view extends down across the triumphal Avenue Reina Maria Cristina to the two copies of Saint Mark’s campanile in Venice; then moving across the hill, you reach the iconic diving pool which was used in the Olympics, and from which the most spectacular view of Barcelona can be enjoyed – with the old town and the Sagrada Familia rolled into one, directly behind the pearly white diving board and cerulean blue pool. What a view! Then heading further up the hill towards its peak, the view switches west, across the beach, the port and the Mediterranean Sea. And it was there that we discovered our next destination: the Jardins de Mossen Costa i Llobera

What we saw of the pool…and some iconic diving shots

Clinging to the steepest façade of Monjuic and gradually terraced down to the port below, these gardens were crammed full of an abundance of tropical palms and spiky cacti of every variety, size and colour. The bounteous panoply of vegetation was so profuse that, with the sun beating down upon us, I felt as though we had entered a tropical paradise island like the Tahiti of Gauguin’s artworks. It was simply incredible.

The Jardins de Mossen Costa i Llobera

Not wanting to drag ourselves away, but with lunch and, ultimately, the journey home to England beckoning, we descended Montjuic in the only way two view-seekers possibly can: by cable car down to the port below. Once there we were able to indulge in what has to be the most delicious twist on a seafood paella I have ever eaten – noodle paella, delicately but richly caramelised around the edges so that the subtle flavours of the shellfish stock were transformed into a sweet smoky caramel which tickled ever sensorial trigger.

Down to the Port via the cable car

And so it was that our trip to Barcelona came to an end. Still outside, still enjoying the sun, still feasting unapologetically and ultimately revelling in the good life which this city can provide so well. All that remained was a trip to Barcelona’s sensationally sparkly new terminal 1 airport, and a swift (if a little bumpy) flight back to blighty.

It all ended with lunch

So there it was, a city trip that dreams are made of. But although this may conclude the diary of our trip, it is far from the last post in the Daily Norm’s Barcelona series. With new photos, paintings, recipes, food reviews and norm sketches still to share, don’t forget to come back to The Daily Norm soon!

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Mar 13

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Barcelona | Photography Focus: Tragedy beneath tranquility

Many years ago, when I first visited Barcelona, I stumbled upon the idyllic Plaça de Sant Felip Neri in the gothic quarter of the city when I had been visiting the cathedral nearby. I was struck by the beautiful tranquility of the place, created as it was by the gently trickling octagonal fountain across which sunlight was peppered, scattered through the dappled shadows cast by leafy trees in the square’s centre, and the decided absence of tourists, many of whom never find this little tucked away place. Back then I could never have imagined that years later I would be staying in the very stylish Hotel Neri situated on one corner of the square; nor had I any idea that this quiet little square, which has all of the appearance of one of the most serene spots of the city, actually hides the secret of one of the most violent and tragic occurrences of its past.

The only sign that cataclysm once cut through today’s unbroken silence is the deep scarring which can be seen punctuated into the surface of the Oratory of Sant Felip Neri whose entrance stands upon the square. For several metres up from the old pavement, the church’s facade is almost eclipsed by a tide of deep pock marks which comprise the violent scars of one of the most tragic incidences of the Spanish Civil War. On 30th January 1938, Nationalist armies bombed the square. The resulting explosion not only caused catastrophic damage to the fabric of the square (much of which was since rebuilt), but it also resulted in the death of 42 innocent citizens, many of whom were children running for shelter in the Oratory when the raid approached.

It’s therefore something of an irony that this place of uninterrupted tranquility hides such a devastating history; almost as though it has become a living memorial to that moment of great tragedy. And yet despite the sadness which is broken into the fabric of the square, these deep and unforgettable scars are actually incredibly beautiful to look at, their beauty being perhaps manifested in their power to prompt reflection upon a troubled past, and an appreciation of the peaceful present. With the sun still dappling across the square, it remained one of my favourite places in the city – a place to think, and just to admire. And luckily for me, this time round, I had a hotel room looking directly onto it.

It is therefore unsurprising that during my short stay at the Hotel Neri, I collected a good few photographs of this stunning square, which now become the focus of this post. But before I leave you to those shots, here are two more interesting facts about the square: First, it was to this church that Gaudi was headed when he was hit so prematurely by a tram. Secondly, the square was the setting for a lunch between the protagonists of Woody Allen’s brilliant homage to the city, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, when Javier Bardem’s character accidentally plays “footsie” under the table with Vicky rather than Cristina. Clearly a further excuse to take another look at that wonderful film – as if another were needed.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Mar 11

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Barcelona | Day 2: It’s not all about Gaudi

Now don’t get me wrong. Gaudi was a genius. Many of the world’s greatest architects who have come along since the architect’s premature death under the wheels of a Barcelona tram would declare it so. He was utterly ingenious and completely beyond his time. The Sagrada Familia looks utterly futuristic, and yet he designed it at the end of the 1800s. But Barcelona, like so many cities who know they are onto a good thing, is not shy about exploiting Gaudi’s talent to the full. So asides from the fanfares which go up within a mile radius of the various Gaudi masterpieces which pop up across the city, you also have souvenirs crammed full of Gaudi-related paraphernalia, all covered in various semblances of mosaic-looking broken tiled patterns, whether it be across cuddly lizards, multi-coloured mugs, candle holders or umbrellas. The resulting popularity of this genius makes life for the spontaneous tourist something of a nightmare as we were about to find out.

On Saturday, our visit to the Sagrada Familia was in part impeded by the fact that all tickets to the towers, which it had been my primary intention to visit, were already sold out for the day. This was several hours before closing. Then on Sunday, when we headed along to the recently renovated Palau Guell off Las Ramblas, we were told similarly that the tickets for the day were sold out – and this too was several hours before closing. Finally on Monday, a further attempt to visit said Guell palace was similarly in vein: they were closed. Thwarted by what appears to be the need for months of pre-planning (I’m assuming that online ticket sales are the cause of tickets selling out so early), we had to stop and restock. Was the success of this holiday really all that dependant on seeing all of these various Gaudi houses? To be crammed inside with the rest of the city’s tourist hoards? Of course it wasn’t: as one door closed on our plans, Barcelona opened various others. For as was to transpire, sometimes the best experiences of a tourist come from the spontaneous and the unplanned. And in Barcelona, it’s really not difficult to find entertainment and beauty beyond the broken tiles of Gaudi’s oeuvre.

Mare Magnum and the port

So what did we do once Gaudi’s doors had been closed in our face? Well as the weather was glorious, location one of the day just had to be Barcelona’s surprisingly clean sandy beach, and its expansive Mediterranean Port. Cleaned up for the 1992 Olympics, and subsequently developed further to include the hyper-modern Mare Magnum shopping and entertainment centre, which acts as a seaward extension to the bustling Las Ramblas, and the W hotel which sits like a sailing boat out on the furthest stretch of the marina, Barcelona’s port and beach front are some of the most pleasurable areas of the city to visit, whether it be for a stroll, a sunbathe or a seafood lunch under the sun – and happily we were able to indulge in all three.

The sunbathing was more of a clothes-on Winter version, but unbeknownst to us, we still managed to gain an awful lot of colour on our faces from a morning happily ambling close to the sea, along the marina’s edge, and eating the most delicious seafood paella on a restaurant installed in the middle of the beach. And what a way to enjoy a winter’s day. I almost felt like pinching myself, but instead indulged happily in a glass or two of crispy cold rueda wine – the perfect accompaniment to a lunch straight out of the pages of summer.

Barcelona’s sandy beach…

…and seafood paella for lunch

Barcelona | Photography Focus: Café Reial

When a winter’s city trip is graced by a little sunshine, it feels almost as though you are tricking the seasons. To feel the sun on your skin after months of deep freeze and half-hearted daylight is like the first bite of deliciously indulgent food after a period of health food austerity. So when the sun graced our recent trip to Barcelona, there was frankly no keeping us out of it, something to which my now rather ruddy face is testament. While the charm of Barcelona’s old gothic quarter streets is undoubtedly the fact that they are so narrow and built-up, this also means that the sun rarely reaches down to street level. Consequently, in order to enjoy a moment’s sun-basking without the inconvenience of shadow, nor the interruptions caused by wind, we had to get out of the squeeze of the gothic streets, and head for one of Barcelona’s hip and happening café-lined squares. And where better than to the King of them all? The Plaça Reial.

The Plaça Reial is, like so many of the similarly enclosed quadrants which make up the Plaza Majores of so many Spanish cities, the beating heart of Barcelona. Just off the equally bustling Las Ramblas, and providing welcome public space after the narrow maze of the gothic streets behind it, the square is a place where all of Barcelona gather, to have coffee and drinks with friends, to hear the music provided by buskers, to seek out the many bargains which are to be found in the square’s Sunday market, or merely to amble around with a dog or a date, or just enjoy the sunshine like we did over a coffee on each of our three mornings in the city. In fact taking our coffee in the square became something of a daily ritual without which the day would have started prematurely. It also enabled us to take up a prime position for a spot of people watching, something which this series of photos surely demonstrates we did well.

Whether it be those sunbathing in their windows, or the little dogs sunbathing on the pavement below – the Plaça Reial truly was a place where all of Barcelona came to enjoy the first sunshine of Spring – and we were only too happy to join them.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Mar 5

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Barcelona | Day One: A tale of two cathedrals

Despite all of the travelling I have been lucky enough to do over the years, there is one city which has always topped the bill as far as I am concerned: Barcelona. From the stunning medieval squares and dark narrow streets of its gothic quarter, and the café culture and art vibe of La Ribera surrounding the Picasso museum; to the elegant grid of shopping streets and modernist palaces in the Eixample, and the expansive Port Vell and its white sandy beach, Barcelona is one of these cities which just about has everything a city could offer. If you were asked to sit down at a drawing board and design the perfect city, surely Barcelona would be it: It’s a cultural hot spot, a city bursting with sites of historical importance, a shopping mecca, a business centre, a bustling port and a beach resort rolled into one. Coupled with that is a predominant party spirit, a sense of cultural and political freedom and an exuberance of chic and style which is unrivalled, in my opinion, elsewhere in Spain.

So while a trip to this most incredible of cities last weekend may have been my 7^th trip to the city, Barcelona’s multifaceted nature meant that there was still a huge amount to discover, and a pleasant opportunity to re-embrace sites and experiences otherwise more familiar to me. And most importantly of all it was an opportunity to properly inject my partner with the same enthusiasm I have always had for the city – after all, how else can I ever persuade him to move there? 😉

The atmospheric Barri Gotic

Day One in Barcelona provided such a chance to discover the city afresh. After years of staying in the Eixample region, I switched allegiances, choosing instead the super-chic boutique haven: the Hotel Neri as my base – a hotel which sits at the beating heart of Barcelona’s gothic quarter, and which is but metres from the imposing gothic cathedral. This super central location meant that I could explore this most characterful of Barcelona neighbourhoods with the ease of breathing; a discovery which began on this first sunny morning with the old cathedral which is at its heart.

For all its incredibly imposing gothic structure, its lavish golden choir stalls and its equally elaborate gold-fringed side chapels, the thing I love about Barcelona’s cathedral is the little cloister bolted onto its side which, either by way of tradition or for some other more logical reason of which I remain ignorant, is the home of a lovely gabble of squawking, inquisitive and cheeky white geese. This lively bunch of orange-beaked beauties are just one feature of what has to be one of the most tranquil corners of this otherwise lively city; a space where everything seems perfectly in tune with each other, from the lush green plants which are grown in the cloister’s centre and through which sunlight dapples over the gothic stonework, to the orange trees which are seemingly reflected in the beaks of the geese, whether by design or coincidence. It’s a beautiful space, and easily one of my favourites in the city. But we could not linger – for we had the rest of the old town and the city to explore.

The Cathedral’s geese-filled cloisters…

…and its imposing gothic interior

Finding the light in a gloomy wet winter

Gloomy short days which get dark before you make it home in the evening; a deluge of rain which has flooded areas of the UK whose residents didn’t even realise they had a river nearby; and a protracted season without leaves on the trees or flowers on the ground. The winter is a long, depressing period which I cannot stand. Days go by without any sense of hope or vitality of life; when you don’t even notice the scant daylight, and get used to a life without sunshine.

For me the only way to get through the winter is by taking a threefold approach: 1. To think, dream, paint and write about past holidays, and to book a load more for the year ahead; 2. To eat lots of delicious food whose flavours are imbued with the flavour palette of the Mediterranean and other sunny locations; and 3. Whenever the slightest glimpse of sunshine peeks through the clouds, to rush out of doors to soak in this rare glimpse of happiness.

The small collection of photos on this post were taken during my Winter-survival tactic number 3, usually over my lunch hour when I occasionally take a stroll through St James’ Park in Westminster to blow away some of the winter cobwebs. It’s amazing to see, during those walks, that despite the protracted period of winter, nature is still very much in action (that may be in part due to the excess of rain which has kept London temperatures pretty mild). In St James’ park for example, there is no sign of hibernation for the cute little squirrels who scurry tamely around London tourists in search of their lunch; and the huge resident pelicans are still out and about, preening their snowy white feathers before crowds of camera-happy visitors.

So in sharing this small set of photos, which also includes a glimpse of a 4^th way to get through the winter – cinema season! – as well as some of my Instagram shots taken out and about in the capital, I hope to spread some of the hope which these moments provided to all those of you who wonder when this gloomy season will ever end. Let’s hope it’s soon.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Feb 7

Bianco Nero – Italy in a Vintage Light

As an artist who loves colour, who believes dulling down the vibrancy of paint straight from the tube is a kind of sacrilege, I am incredibly drawn to the power and atmosphere of black and white. It’s always surprised me that in the process of draining all of the colour out of an image leaving only tone and light and shadow behind, all of the emotional charge of the image is somehow more focused, almost as though the absence of colour leaves room for passion to breathe.

And it’s not just photos either. Black and white films hold an endless fascination for me, and once you’ve watched a few, you become so charmed by their subtle nuanced light that the next colour film you watch seems all too jarring and unauthentic. It’s like a calendar I recently saw in Rome of Audrey Hepburn’s famous debut Roman Holiday. On one page were beautiful black and white stills from the film we all know and love so well; on the next coloured up versions, which looked so Disney and brash by comparison. And then of course there’s Picasso’s Guernica – one of the most powerful paintings in all of the history of art – despite being painted exclusively in tones of grey.

While it’s tempting to think that the appeal of black and white photography harps back to a vintage age, when life was elegant and free from the trappings of modern life, a theory easily justified by photography heroes such as Doisneau and Brassai who so perfectly captured Paris in black and white in the inter-war years, in fact, as this post attempts to show, black and white can be just as atmospheric even when adapted to the modern age.

After weeks recollecting my recent trip to Italy, my final hurrah is a post which explores the medium of black and white photography (along with a few sepia examples thrown in to boot) with Italy and its people as a willing model. Of course it’s easy in the digital age to convert a standard colour photograph to black and white and back again, but as these shots hopefully demonstrate, the transformation is far from just the colour.

Moody, evocative, almost caught in a time vacuum, these shots have taken on a character all of their own just for being distilled in monochrome. Without the blue of the Venetian water, a ripple takes on an abstract, mysterious form; with the colour gone from their faces, random passers by in Roman squares look like actors from a golden age film; and in Naples, the shadow of an old woman in the sunlight is, in black and white, like a menacing character straight out of Victorian fiction. Now that truly is the power of black and white.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.