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.
- Japan in Kew
- Le Marché d’Aix
- Larger than life in Marrakech
- Noto baroque
- The Ancient Theatre
- A walk on the Downs
- Spring arrives
- Bathing of the swans
- Rolling hills of Tuscany
- New decor, London
- The Souk of Marrakech
- Marseille urbanscape
- Marrakech spices
- Moroccan gardens
- The coast at Taormina
- The old port of Marseille
- Balcony in shades of red
- Chelsea White
- Autumn mushroom
- Do not disturb
- Ravishing autumn
- Italian Grasses
- Opulent Catania
- Ragusa Ibla
- Cassis centre
- Modica skyline
- George III
- Marseille on guard
- Aix-en-Provence
- Tuscan Vineyard
- Aperol in Siena
- Taormina’s charm
- Autumn leaf-bed
- Marrakech magic
- Catania fish market
- Downtown in Marseille
- Hampton History
- Magnificent Malaga
- Noto skyline
- Hampstead Heath
- Sussex salutation
- Tongue out, Windsor Great Park
- Patched up Aix
- Etna rock in Ragusa
- Battersea Park
- Richmond
- Birthday baroque
- The mosque of Marrakech
- Siena Duomo
- Andalucian moment
- Battersea spirituality
- Modern lamp, Marseille
- Ortygia
- Marseille silhouette
- Cassis sur la plage
- Sleepy afternoon in Bolgheri
- Colours of Castagneto
- Sunset in Mallorca
- Modica, Sicily
- Mediterranean stock
- Bedroom delight
- Autumn
- Marbella as the sun sets
- Woodpecker in London
- Sicilian splendour
- Marrakech Pink
- The Atlas Mountains
- Marseille’s big wheel
- Wimbledon Common
- Tuscan landscape
- Clapham in the Autumn
- Taormina clustered
- The land of Italy
- Christmas at home
- Sunset in Marseille
- The Guard at Windsor
- Patchwork stage, Sicily
- Sun effect
- Palma burning
- St Petersburg Palace Tree
- Marbella abstract
- The Majorelle gardens
- Chelsea Embankment
- Hallway at Christmas
- Cactus detail
- Rooftops of Tuscany
- Peacock majesty
- Sicilian Baroque
- Ham House
- Marseille
- Messy eater
- Eton
- The colours of Spring
- The gentle shore of Castagneto
- Windsor
- Battersea
- Moroccan Grasses
- Tuscany at its best
- Kew Hote House
- Pure Tuscan Red
- Henry Moore at Battersea
- Winter sunrise
© 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.