Photography | The Daily Norm

Feb 4

The Daily Norm Photo of the Week: Table reflection

There’s nothing quite so nice as a glass of wine – the richly perfumed smells of an oak-barrelled bodega, the scent of flowers and vanilla, the luxurious taste as the liquid rolls over the tongue, and the slightly woozy sensation as the first sip shoots straight to the head. But for me, wine is even more enjoyable at lunchtime, when it still feels ever so naughty, even at the weekend.

As this week’s Daily Norm Photo of the Week suggests, this was a photo taken when we had been indulging in just that – day time wine, although to be precise, it was my partner who had polished off both of these glasses, since I was driving, and therefore miserably confined to sparkling water. But let us put that melancholy moment asides. For in this photo, all the joys of daytime drinking are expressed in a reflective impression of bright light, blue sky and those two elegant wine glasses. I particularly enjoy the fact that the focus of this photo is on the reflection rather than the wine glasses in reality, and that the glasses, normally characterised by their crisp transparency, now appear all the more opaque and nebulous.

A bit like one’s head afterwards…

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 30

Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 4: The Birds

Watching Hitchcock’s infamous masterpiece, as I was the other night, you could really develop a complex about birds. Suddenly, the great master of suspense cinema has you thinking about these apparently innocuous creatures in an altogether more sinister light, especially when seen perched in a group as though anticipating their next attack. But as this last post of my little weekend trip to Ibiza must surely demonstrate, Hitchcock has really done birds a great injustice – for they’re perfectly photogenic and very, very cute.

The photos which follow were all taken in the sun-drenched surrounds of a very quiet Ibiza, at a time when nature had regained prominence on an island whose summer months are given over to all night discos and neon lights. Happily in these transformed tranquil surroundings, little sparrows hopped around cafes, eagerly awaiting the odd crumb from the few island visitors, and in the weak but warming winter sun, pigeons slept gracefully atop folded down cafe umbrellas. They may as well make the most of it. Party season is only weeks away.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 28

Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 3: The beach at Talamanca

While to all intents and purposes, a winter weekend in Ibiza may not have found the island at its best (it was after all almost completely deserted with only around 10% of businesses open and even fewer people left remaining) there was one part of the island which lacked nothing despite the time of the year. Just minutes from our hotel at the Marina Botafoch lay a sensation in waiting – the beach at Talamanca.

With a wide white sandy beach and sumptuously crystal clear waters, this was the kind of beach that seduces millions with promises of the summer in travel brochures every year. Yet here we were on a January afternoon, with an exquisite long beach before us, the sun shining in the sky, and barely a soul around to interfere with our utmost enjoyment of it.

What struck me most of all was how serenely calm the waters were, almost as though the sea itself had taken advantage of the low season and gone to sleep for a while. The waters were so still, that they managed almost a near mirror-like reflection of the low lying coastal houses alongside them – the kind of image you expect to see in a still mountain lake rather than the Mediterranean sea. I was also delighted by the abundance of natural scenery located so close to Ibiza’s capital. For just past the hotels and holiday houses lay vast rocky outcrops calling out to be explored. It was there that, up on a cliff top, we stopped to read and relax with the most incredible view back on Ibiza Town and the vertiginous plunge down to the azure waters below.

So once again the Balearics showed that the melancholy of winter would not defy their beauty. Here on Talamanca beach, we had truly found a reason for all the fuss that surrounds Ibiza every year.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 26

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Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 1: The Dalt Vila

When I think of Ibiza, images of boozy beach parties and cocktails under the stars accompanied by the mechanical beat of Buddha bar and the chilled groves of Café del Mar spring to mind. And while for thousands every year, a trip to the Balearic’s most infamous island means, in the words of the Vengaboys, that they’re “gonna have a party, Whoa! in the Mediterranean sea…”, at this time of the year, the only party you’re going to have is with the shadows filling the deserted streets and beaches. For as I discovered when a business trip took me to Ibiza last weekend, Ibiza is officially in the midsts of its hibernation.

Ibiza’s historical old town

This is no more obvious that in the hilly streets of the Dalt Vila, or “upper town” as the ancient old town of Ibiza’s capital is called – an area packed with stunning little cobbled streets which twist and turn all the way up to the Santa Maria d’Eivissa, the church which towers across Ibiza’s main port. While the plethora of quaint little houses lining those streets suggested that in the warmer months, they would be a tourist’s paradise, in January not a single business was open. And so it was that my Winter Weekend in Ibiza was a rather bizarre affair. For the Med’s party paradise was punctuated with neither a disco beat, nor any other human sound, and the only action that could be found was in the modern extension of the city (the Eixample), where some locals continued to live on, despite the silence all around them.

Historical streets of the Dalt Vila

Of course this desertion was not all bad. For crowds are undoubtedly overrated, and while the town undoubtedly lacked the charm it would exhibit when open for business, I was at least joined by my partner, and together we were able to explore both the old town and its surroundings relatively undisturbed. And with the sun shining its winter warmest, this could not have been a more pleasant experience, not least when the steep roads out of the old town took us onto the vast ancient city ramparts and the natural rocky outcrops upon which the city is built.

Rocky outcrops and views of the stunning natural surroundings

So while this first set of photos is unlikely to feature much by way of people action, I think it aptly demonstrates what is undoubtedly a charming and unique historical centre and a feature of the island which undoubtedly falls unjustifiably within the shadow of Ibiza’s all encompassing party reputation. After all, the clubs and the larger louts form a very small part of an island which is otherwise both geographically stunning and historically rich – features which are no more obvious than in January when the drunks are safely ensconced a thousand miles away.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 21

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Rural idyll in Mountainous Mallorca

It is sometimes difficult to remember, when passing most of one’s time in the bustling city centre of Palma de Mallorca, that mere miles outside of the city lies some of the most stunning natural scenery in all of the Mediterranean. From wide planes peppered with ancient windmills and sprawling olive and citrus groves, to incredibly vast vertiginous mountain scenery, Mallorca is an island rich in stunning vistas and bucolic idylls, and when I got myself a set of wheels last week, I enjoyed my first samplings of the island at its very best.

The car took us deep within the vast Serra de Tramuntana, a stretch of mountains which forms the backbone of the island sprawling from South West to North East, and which was awarded UNESCO world heritage status in 2011. Reaching the village from Palma involves an easy motorway drive East to Alaró from where the road turns inwards into the heart of the mountains.

While the meandering mountainside road can be a little nail-biting at times, the accompanying views and sensationally untouched countryside are amongst the most stunning I have ever seen. Beneath towering mountains, terraced planes filled with olive trees and red stony terrain play host to mountain-hardy sheep and goats who totter around with iconic bells hanging around their necks. The result is a soporific melody of soft bells jangling in the still mountain air, a soundtrack which mesmerises me into an other-worldly state of epiphany.

Meanwhile through the delicate olive branches, soft warming sun rays bounce and scatter light across a crumbling dry soil, and all around insects stir against their beds of rustic tree bark and rocky-bound plant life. The landscape is almost biblical in its magnificence, and of course it lends itself to photography like none other.

So let me leave you to enjoy the fruits of my first visit inland. I can assure you now that there will be many more new mountain adventures to come.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 14

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The Daily Norm Photo of the Week: Borne Tortoise

The year hasn’t long started, but as far as photographs go, this has to be my favourite of the year so far. Created in a moment of pure suspension of time, this tortoise, one of four holding up an obelisk at the end of the Paseo Borne (Passeig del Born) in the centre of Palma, is happily basking in the Winter sunshine, while beside him, the water from the fountain spurting energetically all around has dissipated and separated; atomised into what appear half way between gelatinous forms and glass beads. It’s a shot whose success owes itself to a huge amount of luck and less to skill, but I am particularly thrilled with the composition, and the shapes which have emerged – particularly the crossing of the water, and the hint of Christmas decorations and autumn leaves in soft focus in the background.

There can be no doubt that this photo deserves its place as The Daily Norm Photo of the Week.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 13

Mallorca Moments: A January Sunday on the Port d’Andratx

Before you look onwards to the photos below, I want you to remember (as you purview the crystal clear blue waters, accompanying blue skies and verdant plant life) that this is January. Yes January. And while for the Malloquins, this sunny January Sunday may be expected, to we two Londoners, this is just incredible. 18 degrees, and a sunny stroll on a beach along the Mediterranean sea. If this is January, then what are we to expect from July?

But weather asides, the topic of my latest Mallorca Moment is a place surely worthy of further exploration. For the Port d’Andratx (or Puerto Andratx) on the South Western coast of Mallorca is a gem of the island, whether in Summer or mid-winter. Benefiting from a naturally curved harbour, almost closed to the forces of the Mediterranean sea, Andratx is a true seaside haven, where fishing boats reside naturally alongside pastel-painted houses and hotels, while next to a cobbled harbour edge, cafés provide the perfect sunny sanctuary for visitors to enjoy the stunning views: of clear blue skies, hillsides clustered with houses, and a direct vista onto the Med.

Reflections on Port d’Andratx

And this is exactly what we did this Sunday past, as we started to explore outside of our home of Palma with the aid of a trusty hire car and something of a will of iron in getting behind a wheel, on the other side of the road, after several years passed without a single day’s driving practice. But as they say – it’s like getting back on a bicycle; the driving skills returned to me, and we whisked off through a picture-perfect mountain road to this inimitable little port.

After a tipple of the necessarily non-alcoholic kind (such are the downsides of driving), our explorations took us to the port’s stunning coastline, where craggy rocks jut out to sea like mysterious figures from a surreal landscape by Dali. There as the winter sun steadily strained over the rocky outposts, long shadows created some stunning photographic effects, and made for an extremely sultry soujourn to while away the early afternoon.

The stunning craggy coastline

But heading back towards the car, we found another wonder of nature away from the coast, where a small river met the port. Here, with rushes and long grasses growing naturally in marshy land alongside the small little stream, we felt as though we were in a rural idyll rather than metres away from a bustling port. My photographs taken here have to be amongst my favourite of the day.

Rushes and grasses by a stream

But you know it’s winter when the sun descends early, and as the pearly round fireball started to make its rosy descent into the horizon, we headed back to Palma, to a garden centre to start a nature reserve of our own. Now, in my office amongst plants freshly installed, I await the onset of Spring, and yet more Mallorca moments in the sunshine.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Jan 9

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Discovering Palma: Mercat de Santa Catalina

This weekend, rather unbelievably, we will be marking two months since we moved to Mallorca – in some ways surprisingly long, in others surprisingly short. For we have already discovered so much about our incredible home city of Palma de Mallorca – from its winding old town streets, to its hidden tapas gems, nearby sandy beaches and even a cinema showing films in English – that it is hard to accept that we have only been here a mere matter of weeks. But despite many an exploration made, there is still much left to discover, as our recent gastronomic sojourn in the Santa Catalina market demonstrated.

We had heard much about the Mercat de Santa Catalina (or Mercado in Castellan) before we ventured there ourselves. Half the problem was that despite its excellent reputation, we could never quite seem to find the market, despite wandering always close by. But this time we had the market firmly marked on the map and did not miss it.

Compared with the Mercat de Olivar, a market on an almost industrial scale, the Mercat in Santa Catalina is a far more select affair, and for that reason is characterised by a clear focus on gastronomy rather than economy – a clear case of quality, not quantity in this refined temple of food. Walking amongst its compact and well stocked aisles, any chef or food lover cannot help but get emotional at the sensational food on offer, from an abundance of fresh fish in glittering silvers and soft pinks, to fruit and vegetables so perfectly rounded and robust in colour and quality that they look picked straight from Eden.

Happily if, like me, you become a little overwhelmed with all that is in offer, so astounded by the impact of the produce that all cooking ideas float straight out of your head, you can at least sample some of the best food from the market in a series of popular bars dotted around the periphery. Such is their popularity however that you must jostle for a space, and that meant seizing upon such opportunities to reach a bar as arose. For us that meant finding ourselves squeezed into a small space at the bar of the Tallat a ma S’agla, which was a fine piece of luck, because the Salamancan bellota ham we indulged in was amongst the finest I have ever eaten.

The Mercat de Santa Catalina can be found bridging the Carrer de Servet and the Carrer d’Annibal just East of Palma’s centre.

Jan 5

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London Calling

2014 was full of novel, exciting and previously unexplored experiences, the likes of which I was able to reflect on when recently looking through my photos of the year. And while the most significant of my year’s experiences is undoubtedly the total change which came about when I left London and moved to Mallorca, I was also given the opportunity to live out yet another novel change as the year drew to a close. I became a tourist in London.

After 12 years living in the city, I never thought it would be possible to see London as a tourist destination, and to discover it afresh in the way I would a new holiday location. Yet when I headed to London for two nights this Christmas, I suddenly felt like a stranger in my previous home city. The change was almost undoubtedly brought about by the accomodation: being able to stay in a hotel in the centre made all the difference, not least because it cut out the ghastly return tube journey which was an inevitable accompaniment of every trip to the centre when I lived in the suburbs. The hotel (we stayed at the new “Me” hotel on the Aldwych) also enabled us to see London from a new literal perspective too – our room was on the 9th floor and provided us with the most stunning of bird’s eye views. Suddenly I realised that atop buildings I thought I knew inside-out was a secret roof terrace full of plants; and from this viewpoint, the cluster of shiny new skyscrapers in the City finally made sense.

London viewed from the “Me”

We also felt like tourists because suddenly we had time on our side. With no work to get to or no reason to rush home, we could indulge in many of the treats the city has to offer: We went to see the stunning musical Miss Saigon, we visited the British Museum (with what appeared to be thousands of other tourists) we drank mulled wine in Covent Garden, and we even went ice skating at the Natural History Museum – a first for my leg post-2008 accident.

A tourist in London – ice skating, Covent Garden and the British Museum

But of course being a tourist also brought with it the inescapable frustrations of London: the eye-watering expense, the unfriendly customer service, the rushed restaurant sittings, the 12.5% “discretionary” service charge, the packed tube, and the horrible, horrible cold. So for all of the excitement of being a tourist in London, I suddenly found myself relieved to be leaving again, and full of joy to return to my new home in Mallorca. I needed nothing further to confirm that in swapping London for Palma, we have truly made a change for the better.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 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.

Dec 31

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2014: My year in photos

It has become something of a tradition on The Daily Norm to spend the last day of the year looking back at photos capturing the 364 days before it, reflecting on all of the splendid and captivating sights which have made up the year. And perhaps more than any other that has gone before, 2014 has been a year which the camera has loved. For when I look back at my photos of the last 12 months, I am met with an overwhelming body of diverse and beautiful shots which encapsulate a year overflowing with incredible sights and experiences.

I count myself very lucky to have seen and experienced all that has passed in a single year. From the quaint dark streets of Barcelona in February, my travels took me to the incredibly unique medieval citadel of Dubrovnik, the jaw-droppingly beautiful Amalfi Coast (including Positano, Ravello and Capri), the inspiringly-vertiginous mountain town of Ronda in Southern Spain, the vine-rich planes of coastal Tuscany, the floral festival of Pilar in Zaragoza, and the much applauded Czechoslovakian beauty that is Prague. And travels asides, it was the year when I held my first solo art exhibition in 6 years – a huge amount of work which dominated the first half of the year, but a wonderfully satisfying artistic and commercial success which will mark out this year as a creatively significant one.

However, appearances can be misleading, and when I look back on these photos, in particular those taken while travelling around Europe, I remember those holidays as escapes into unreality, moments of happiness snatched and nourished in between a stark reality which was becoming more and more difficult to endure. Once my exhibition was over, I found myself faced with a career which failed to inspire me, a city which made life a daily grind, and my partner feeling increasingly depressed for the same reasons. And it was this realisation, and a very unique opportunity that came from it, which triggered perhaps the most significant of all experiences that 2014 brought: our move to Mallorca. A life changer on so many levels; a bundle of new experiences which have only just begun.

And so it is sitting here in sunny Mallorca that I make this review, delightedly gathering up my memories of the year full of the positivity which has accompanied our move to a new life in Spain. Fast forward 365 days, and I look forward to telling you all about it.

Happy New Year to you all!

: Beach umbrellas, Positano

: Streets of old Barcelona

: My 2014 solo exhibition

: The cerulean sea of the Amalfi Coast

: The beautiful yet hostile city of London

: A kaleidoscope of flowers, St James’ Park London

: My favourite fountain, Marbella

: Tramlines, Prague

: The stunning island of Capri

: Sunshine and shadow, Barcelona

: A magical bay, Dubrovnik

: Autumn tropicana, Palma de Mallorca

: The ultimate ripples, Palma de Mallorca

: Old town rooftops, Prague

: Pigeons in the evening sun, Dubrovnik

: Brugmansias in a Cloister, Dubrovnik

: Lemons on the Amalfi Coast, where else?

: Colour profile, Marbella

: Floral walkway, Positano

: Atmospheric rooftops, Dubrovnik

: Paradise on earth – Capri

: The ancient gardens of Ravello

: Flowers at wonderful Wimbledon

: Marbella’s calming cementary

: Historical rooftops, Prague

: Mallorca calling – fans on show

: Sunset and masts, San Vincenzo, Italy

: Ceramic temptations, Positano

: Barcelona’s Cathedral Geese

: Barcelona’s inimitable Sagrada Familia

: London’s foggy cold landscape

: A walk to work…London

: Picture-perfect Ronda

: The ultimate Andalucian landscape

: Old women chatter, Marbella

: The ultimate end of the rainbow, Palma Cathedral

: Grape harvest in Castagneto Carducci

: A sea of terracotta, Dubrovnik

: Sunrise in South London

: Fiesta del Pilar, Zaragoza

: Birds in flight, Barcelon

: Good times indeed… on Dubrovnik Beach

: A stunning Spring sunset, Marbella

: Palma from our rooftop, Palma

: Dubrovnik’s enchanting streets

: The famous clock of Capri’s main piazza

: Ronda, Spain

: The stunning gardens of Villa Cimbrone, Ravello

: Beach life, Donoratico

: Tuscan terracotta

: Prague’s riverside spectacle

: Italy sunset

: Autumn glory

: The ultimate art space – Zaragoza

: So proud of my first solo exhibition in 6 years

: Sunset in Positano

: Now that’s what I call a way to spend December

: The magnificent cathedral of Palma de Mallorca

: Semana Santa in Marbella

: Ronda’s famous bullring

: Palma dressed up for Christmas

: Beautiful Capri

: Now there’s a place to get married – Amalfi

: Gold and shiny Palma de Mallorca

: Typical Tuscany

: Masts at sundown, Mallorca

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.