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