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