2017: My Year in Photos
There is no doubt that my favourite post of every year is this one: the moment when, in looking back over a year of photos, I am able to consolidate the last 365 days and review an overarching visual picture of the year. There’s nothing quite so fulfilling as the recognition of a year well spent, and looking back over this year’s photos, I am able to confidently conclude that 2017 has been an extraordinary year.
It was extraordinary for many reasons, not least for the variety not only of our holidays, but of our lifestyle changes too. At the beginning of the year, we were living in Mallorca and I was working in Marketing. By the end, I am once again a hardened (but wiser) Londoner, but with an altogether more exciting role in commercial law. It was consequently a year of big changes, and not least in our home, where a total redecoration accompanied our return to the big smoke, and Farrow & Ball calke green became the indubitable shade of the season.
But if I was to remember 2017 for one thing, it would be for the breadth and diversity of our travels. 2017 saw us setting foot on African soil for the first time, and the cultural shift which resulted just a few hundred miles south of Spain is an experience which will stay with me forever. But similarly variable were the sun-baked lands of Sicily whose Eastern shores we explored in June. Whether it be the explosive volcanic soils surrounding Etna or the proliferation of baroque architecture peppering the ancient towns, Sicily was a true hot bed of unique creative and natural passions. Then there were the lush vineyards of Tuscany, the ochre glow of Aix, aperol spritz in Siena, the great stags of Windsor…
So scan your eyes over the photos above and below and bask in a glorious plethora of multicoloured captures – clear evidence of a year which punched above its weight in scintillating sites and alluring appeal. It was a year of great holidays, but also of staycations too – a warm and balmy English summer provided us with the perfect excuse to explore the leafy gardens of South West London and enjoy the very visible changes of the English seasons, from floral Spring in Battersea Park to an auburn Autumn on Clapham Common.
Now the seasonal chapter is shifting once again. Christmas is over and the days of wintery cold have just begun. But just as I reflect with relish upon this last year in its final fading hours, I look forward with anticipation to the year soon to come. New sights, news sensations, and another cycle of seasonal variations has started all over again.
- Bathing of the swans
- Taormina clustered
- A walk on the Downs
- New decor, London
- Siena Duomo
- Christmas at home
- The gentle shore of Castagneto
- Rooftops of Tuscany
- Marseille on guard
- Opulent Catania
- Ortygia
- Larger than life in Marrakech
- St Petersburg Palace Tree
- Pure Tuscan Red
- Aix-en-Provence
- Ragusa Ibla
- Japan in Kew
- Marseille urbanscape
- Marrakech Pink
- Do not disturb
- Autumn leaf-bed
- Autumn
- Sunset in Mallorca
- Italian Grasses
- The old port of Marseille
- Tuscan Vineyard
- Andalucian moment
- Clapham in the Autumn
- Bedroom delight
- The coast at Taormina
- Woodpecker in London
- Marseille silhouette
- Autumn mushroom
- Taormina’s charm
- The mosque of Marrakech
- The Majorelle gardens
- Chelsea White
- Downtown in Marseille
- Wimbledon Common
- The Souk of Marrakech
- Ravishing autumn
- Windsor
- Le Marché d’Aix
- Sunset in Marseille
- Cactus detail
- Peacock majesty
- Birthday baroque
- Colours of Castagneto
- Magnificent Malaga
- Sleepy afternoon in Bolgheri
- Balcony in shades of red
- Rolling hills of Tuscany
- Tongue out, Windsor Great Park
- Ham House
- Modica skyline
- Modica, Sicily
- Hampstead Heath
- Battersea
- Moroccan Grasses
- The Ancient Theatre
- Modern lamp, Marseille
- Marrakech magic
- Battersea Park
- Moroccan gardens
- Messy eater
- The colours of Spring
- Etna rock in Ragusa
- Aperol in Siena
- Hallway at Christmas
- Hampton History
- Mediterranean stock
- Tuscany at its best
- Eton
- Cassis sur la plage
- George III
- The Atlas Mountains
- Henry Moore at Battersea
- Chelsea Embankment
- The Guard at Windsor
- Marrakech spices
- Cassis centre
- Kew Hote House
- Battersea spirituality
- Winter sunrise
- Sun effect
- Sussex salutation
- Sicilian Baroque
- Marseille’s big wheel
- Marseille
- Patched up Aix
- Noto baroque
- Tuscan landscape
- Marbella as the sun sets
- Noto skyline
- Palma burning
- Richmond
- The land of Italy
- Catania fish market
- Patchwork stage, Sicily
- Marbella abstract
- Sicilian splendour
- Spring arrives
© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2017. Unauthorised 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.