Photography | The Daily Norm

Dec 26

A Seaside Sojourn to celebrate the Season

While the sea may be the same globally-unfied expanse of water wherever it laps and wanders around the world, the nature and appearance of the sea as it washes up upon a shore will differ widely from beach to beach. While on the Mediterranean shores, sandy beaches and clement conditions are conducive to crystal clear seas tinted cerulean by the sunny skies, in England in the winter, the waters of the South Coast take on an altogether more electrifying, menacing quality. And yet those waters, while not inviting the viewer in amongst their freezing watery fold, are nonetheless as enticing as the sea in a warmer location.

So on Christmas morning, with the meat left roasting in the oven, and the family table freshly laid with a Christmas centrepiece made from lustrous winter foliage and gold candles, I was drawn to the Sussex Coast, which happens to be a mere minute from my family home. The weather was not unreasonable, but the beach was frosty and cold. Its waves were charged with so much energy that the water’s edge frothed and bubbled as it collapsed upon the stoney shore – so much so that it reminded me of egg whites whipped manically into meringue. Its wooden groins were almost totally submerged by the sand which had been newly hurled up upon the beach; Its plentiful pebbles were freshly scattered with shells gifted to the shore by the depths of the ocean.

As ever, I was on hand with my camera to capture these details. For Christmas Day is not just about the glitter and gold, but about taking time out from the busy schedule of the festivities to appreciate people, and nature, and the gifts of the season.

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.

Dec 24

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Happy Christmas from The Daily Norm!

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and in the office of The Daily Norm, we intend to get thoroughly sloshed on mulled wine. Meanwhile the blobby white Norms are toasting their favourite snack – marshmallows – over a glittery Christmas candle, and trying to solve the age-old dilemma of how best they should hang out a stocking for Santa when they don’t have feet.

After several weeks settling into our new abode in Mallorca, my beloved and I are newly returned to England to pass the season with family. For us, that means a trip to Sussex, and here in a county of green rolling hills, crackling fireplaces, smoke puffing from old stone chimneys and homes alight with the glow of Christmas, we have spent Christmas Eve exploring some of the more Christmasy spots: the County Town of Chichester, whose rather magnificent cathedral was alive with the Christmas spirit when we visited this afternoon, and the little hill top Seat of the Dukes of Norfolk: Arundel. In both historical towns, there was plenty to photograph, what with the Georgian townhouses trimmed with seasonal ornamentation, and the little shopfronts alive with a Christmas glow, but with only my iPhone to hand, what follows is a series of mobile phone square-framed shots taken in last-minute homage to the season.

So with these pictures, and with these final sober words, I bid all of The Daily Norm readers a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for your loyalty, your interest and your support. Have an amazing, suitably indulgent seasonal celebration and see you soon! Right, that mulled wine smells about ready…

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.

Dec 23

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Venice without the water: Plaça de Sant Jeroni, Palma

I can’t quite hide the fact that apart from being deliriously happy surrounded by the Christmas spirit of my new home in Palma de Mallorca, there is still a little piece of me that yearns for Venice at Christmas. It’s always been this way, ever since my blissful gap year spent in Italy, when an extended stay in Venice introduced me to the city enveloped in an enchanting wintery mist which made the glowing shops selling golden masks and glass Christmas trees all the more inviting. Every Christmas since I have yearned for Venice: my Christmas trees are invariably peppered with sparkling Venetian masks, my Murano glass trees are in pride of place amongst my decorations, and in fact this time last year I was in the pearl of the Adriatic herself.

So it was perhaps in part because of this yearning, but also because of its inherent characteristics that when I stumbled into the Plaça de Sant Jeroni, a tranquil little square deep in the old town of Palma the other day, I could have sworn I had stumbled into Venice. And having now declared the square my favourite in all the city, I just had to share it with you.

The Plaça de Sant Jeroni

For me there are many features that make this square Venetian. For one thing, its taller than average narrow buildings, which remind me of the palaces fighting for prowess along the Grand Canal or the tall blocks of the Venetian Ghetto, squeezing gradually upwards for space where there was none at ground level. Second it’s the colours: pinks, yellows and terracottas, these are almost certainly the colours which reflect so majestically in the canals of the city. Third the fountain at its centre – glamorous enough to be a city superstar, but appearing almost forgotten in this nostalgic backwater far from the tourist trail. Fourth the two churches, both incredibly ornate – for where else do you find churches in such neighbourly proximity than in Venice? Fifth the general sense of dilapidation – the cracks and flaking paint; the tired romanticism which have attracted so many artists to Venice since its historical decline began.

The details I love

But where are the canals I hear you ask? Well true, they are missing, but like so many of the hidden gems in Venice, this is like one of the rare squares tucked away between buildings where the canals do not pass. I love them there as I love this square here.

I know nothing else about this square. Only its name. But for me it will always be characterised by its Venetian tones. And for that reason, it’s a comfort to know that this pretty piazza is but a stroll away, for a moment or a visit whenever I yearn for Venice.

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.

Dec 22

The Money shot: Beach Volleyball 4 days before Christmas

It may be hard to feel Christmasy when instead of ice cold streets, shop windows misted up from condensation, and fireplaces crackling with log fires to keep out the cold, you have instead summer-like sunshine and beach life, but I think I can live with the change. For here in Palma de Mallorca, my new home town, we have been blessed with incredible December temperatures, and this past weekend, there was not a single cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind to make anyone think of Winter. In fact the weather was so good that for most local residents, Christmas wrapping was left to one side, and enjoyment of the outside was top on the agenda.

Amongst those enjoying the amazing conditions were these beach volleyball players. Stripped down to their shorts, enjoying the unseasonable heat on the beach immediately adjacent to Palma, these players not only made for an iconically summery sight, but their location meant that any photograph was bound to be dazzling. And this photo, taken in a split second as one of the players leapt for the ball, is certainly the money shot and deserved a Daily Norm post all of its own. Not only is it a spectacular shot, with the incredible view of Palma Cathedral immediately behind the player frozen mid-play, but it is also the very epitome of a summer’s day. Would you ever have guessed that this was taken 4 days before Christmas?

It’s a Winter weather change I can well get used to.

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.

Dec 19

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Mallorca Photo Folio: The blues and the beiges

Having done the silver, and posted the greens and reds, it’s onto the blues and the caramalised gold-tinged beiges in my exploration of the colour palette of Palma de Mallorca, and perhaps of all the colours I have collected, these two are the easiest to represent. For Palma de Mallorca’s old town is a unison of golden ochres glowing from its old historical palaces and churches, and blues, which sparkle back from the expanse of sea which runs alongside the city, and the cerulean sky which shines so brightly above its many horizons. Here, the blues glow in the wood framed windows of the ancient town houses, while the beiges reflect like caramel in the molten water of the Mediterranean. These colours may be opposite ends of a colour spectrum, but in the Mediterranean, they are a fully harmonised affiliation.

So here are my photos which show these two colours at their very best. The glorious golden cathedral of Palma de Mallorca glowing against a bright blue sky; an old much used earthenware pot standing in readiness full of food against a painted blue cafe wall; the multi-tiled tribute to the sea by Mallorcan resident Juan Miro. The modern blues buildings and the ancient beige stone; the yellow sun reflected through windows and the windows reflected in the blue sea. Blue and beige: a happy symphony.

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.

Dec 11

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Mallorca Photo Folio: The reds and the greens

Last week I took you on a whistlestop tour around the city of Palma but only through the narrowest application of my artist’s palette. For the focus of my photo folio selection was shades of glittering silver – the kind of metallic sparkle which we now see regularly when the sun breaks free of wintery clouds and reflects over the expansive Mediterranean sea. This week’s folio selection follows the trend of the moment: Christmas, and as such concentrates on the colours of the season: the reds and the greens, and much in between.

Ironically, despite their being the colours of Christmas, red and green have a prominent presence here in Mallorca all year around, where the sight of green wooden shutters on sunbaked terracotta walls is amongst the most common on the island, and where tropical green leafed plants are abundant in rotund red fruits. So far from being Christmassy, these colours actually inject a feeling of the tropical into this photo collection, reminding me of paintings by the likes of Gauguin, whose earthy red paintings fringed with green tropicana were the staple of his Tahiti collections.

Back in the urban jungle of Palma, these photos are reflections on a city ripe with life, leisure and lovely, lovely views. They feature the colourful abundance of painted palaces, the plants which are lustrous and healthy even at this time of the year, and the little characterful features which make Palma such an inspirational place to live in.

Dec 9

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Discovering Palma: The ancient and the sacred

With my mother in town this last weekend, it was time to go back to tourist status, a role I slip into particularly well having only been a fully fledged resident of Palma de Mallorca for less than a month. As such I am still very much in the discovery stages, and already I have ascertained that the sprawling and ancient old town of Palma contains as many hidden corners as it does winding multi-directional streets. And by far the most sprawling, seemingly unplanned and historically rich of all the quarters is that to be found immediately behind and to the East of the Cathedral: the old moorish heart of the city.

With the weekend’s festivities meaning closure of many of the main sites, we began our whistlestop tour of the city with one of the attractions that was open: the old Arabic Baths. And thus began a tour which focused on the ancient, and the sacred. The Arab Baths are not as fine and complete a monument to the previous moorish rulers of Spain as, say, La Mesquita in Cordoba or the baths in Ronda, but they are still a beautiful and historically poignant monument to a bygone age. Dating back to the 11th century and containing two halls – one for hot steaming and the other a warm ante-room, today the baths are little more than a stone archive, although one can easily decipher the moorish arches whose antiquated stone is dappled with the sharp light filtering through holes built into the domed ceiling. The best part of the baths for me however is the gardens of the adjacent Can Fontirroig manor – a lush spot which looks as beautiful in the winter as in the spring, especially when graced with the sun which happily accompanied our weekend.

Leaving the baths and unfurling one further winding street after another, we came upon the Convent of Santa Clara, a romantically austere building and church whose side chapels are filled with the gilded floats which will be paraded in the city’s Easter processions, and whose nun inhabitants bake traditional convent sweets for sale. Naturally we couldn’t resist the purchase of a marzipan, nor a bag of our favourite polverones – a fragile powdery biscuit named after the dusty nature of its constitution.

This led us swiftly onwards to yet another of Palma’s religious hot spots: the Franciscan Monastery whose stunning baroque facade dominates the Plaça de Sant Francesc with its exquisitely detailed depiction of the immaculate conception crowned with Saint George and the Dragon. But the Monastery’s greatest asset has to be the significant cloister set alongside the large main basilica. Drenched with sunshine, the multiple thin columns are amongst the most elegant I have seen in any of Spain’s many monasteries, and lend the cloister a special airyness which made our visit on this sunny afternoon especially hypnotic.

Happily those sugary sweets purchased a little earlier from the nuns of Santa Clara gave us the pick me up we needed – at least until we were able to end a thoroughly illuminating day’s sightseeing with a much needed authentic chocolate stop at Can Joan de S’Aigo – surely the perfect traditional way to end our dip into Palma’s history.

Dec 5

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Christmas comes to Palma

I feel like I am living in something of a hybrid world. By day, Palma feels at worst like a day in early autumn, with freshly fallen leaves still scattering the pavement; at best it could be late summer or spring. However by night, when log fires burn within the old town houses and the late-opening shops glow from outside and in, it can feel very Christmassy. But any doubts that I may enter into the Christmas spirit following my relocation to the Mediterranean were completely dispelled last Friday when Palma de Mallorca initiated the great switch-on of its Christmas lights.

Switch-on in the Plaça de Cort

In the Plaça de Cort at the heart of Palma’s old town, so many people gathered that it was as if the whole of Mallorca had descended to witness the city leap into the Christmas season. Excited children sat up on the shoulders of their parents, while on a stage set up for the event, school choirs sung Christmas carols angelically. Then finally just after 7pm, the mayor appeared on the balcony of the majestic renaissance town hall and switched on the lights. Gasps of pleasure rippled across the crowd as we saw the walls of nearby houses, balconies, and even the skies come alight with Christmas light. Thousands of lights had been strung across the spaces between buildings, over squares, and even wrapped around tree branches so that the trees seem transformed into magical forests. Even palm trees, normally synonymous with tropical beaches and summer sunshine, had their trunks dressed in Christmas lights forming illuminated pillars lining Palma’s waterfront.

The city looks nothing short of stunning. Walking around its lit up streets is like being in an open air winter wonderland – a fairytale come to life before our eyes. And it’s not just the children whose eyes are widened by this spectacle. Adults too are visibly excited by the arrival of Christmas, frequently posing for photos before this array of light, and strolling around full of the festive cheer it brings.

And with the lights have arrived Christmas markets in many of the city’s squares and streets, most notable of which can be found in the brilliantly lit Plaza Mayor. There, stalls in their plenty sell nativity figures both traditional and more handmade to be placed within the Spanish “Belenes” – the most important of the traditional Spanish Christmas decorations. There is nothing that has not been thought of when it comes to building a Belen, from little water-running fountains to mechanical blacksmiths and plants and trees of every variety.

So Christmas has truly come to Palma, and I can’t deny that despite the warmer climes, I am starting to feel the Christmas spirit take me over…Time to decorate!

Dec 3

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Mallorca Moments: Sunset over the Docks

Another day in Palma, another sunset. And this one was a true spectacle. It started with a walk down to the marina. The port of Palma is so big that it fills the entire bay of the city, yet it seems to be so impenetrable, fringed as it is with gates and cordons and goodness knows what. Yet unperturbed, Dominik and I have set ourselves the challenge of exploring as much of it as we can. Thus walking down what appeared to be a rather industrial road leading to what must be the main docks and boat repair industry, we found ourselves exploring yet another area of the port which we hadn’t found before, ending up at a beautiful café out on the harbour arm overlooking the undisputed icon of the city: the Cathedral.

There we had our fill of taking industrial photos of the machinery in the port and the workers retreating from the port back to the city at sundown (it reminded me a little of the factory paintings of the North of England by Lowry, although the scenery was somewhat more beautiful…) before heading back to the less industrialised pleasure port where huge shiny yachts rest gracefully by the harbour edge. It was there that ultimately, as the sun plummeted to its lowest visible point, we bore witness to the most stunning sunset which, when interspersed with the clouds scattered across the horizon, made for an incredibly sumptuous visual feast. And as is so often the case with sunsets over the coast, the interplay with the still waters of the marina was incredible. I have never seen ripples so lavishly shot through with rich tones of orange and blue.

So excuse me if I bore you with post after post of these natural spectacles, but with sunsets as good as these, what other aesthetic fix could you possibly need?

Dec 1

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Mallorca Photo Folio: Shades of Silver

Palma de Mallorca, the Mediterranean city I am now lucky enough to call home, is proving to be a constant photographic inspiration, so much so that on the rare occasion that I go out without a camera, I immediately regret it. Palma is a city with multiple faces: a historically-rich gothic heart; a sprawling modernista old town; a bustling port and fancy marina; a beach and countless modern shop-lined boulevards. No wonder then that at every corner a new photographic opportunity presents itself.

The result is a gradually increasing collection of photos sitting on my computer which simply must make their way onto The Daily Norm. I could collect and categorise them in a number of ways, but flicking through my albums this morning, it occurred to me that a lot of silver was going on. This was the result of the onset of clouds which, when mixed with hazy sunshine, provided a stunning silvery counter to the vivid blue days we had experienced thus far. Using that idea as a starting point, I have collected together a number of photos whose greys, icy blues and metallic hues make a wonderful colour collective, but also a perfect sampling of the truly inspirational sights all around us.