Have a restful Summer holiday, dear Readers. I’ll be back in two weeks time. x Alicja
Images by Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, 2026. Without an explicit permission of the author nothing can be done with them. x
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I promised you a while ago a post with examples of photographs in which I do not show my children’s face or I partially hide it. Many parents prefer not to show their children’s faces and yet they would like to somewhat embrace that part of their life and publicly be happy with it. Here are a few examples of photographs that you can take if this is your preference. They are fairly self-explanatory. All photos taken below are of my family.
Example 1
Parental embrace.
Example 2
Obstructed by water.
Example 3
Head down with a hat that hides the face.
Example 4
Low light reading.
Example 5
Hiding in laundry baskets, laundry bags. Make sure that the face is low enough. In this photo my son’s face shows a little bit.
Example 6
‘Show me your hands!’ type of photo. This could be with a dough or play dough or paint whatever your child is playing with at the given moment.
Example 7
Show a landscape feature not your child. Make the child look away from the camera.
Example 8
Teenager in action at sea. The shoes always fly away there…
Example 9
Give them a funny hat to wear.
Example 10
You can hide them in one of those… This one was taken at Heights of Abraham, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire.
Example 11
Create silhouettes with a visible object in hand.
Example 12
Put yourself with a child into a shadowy corner the background is lit.
Example 13
Create close-ups while being on the side of your child.
Example 14
Take a photo in an outfit
Example 15
Run with her barefoot on grass.
Example 16
Create a layered image that uses a rule of third. Hide your child’s face partially in the middle or in the corners of the layers.
Example 17
Observe what you are giving to them and photograph the exchange.
Example 18
Help them engage in sensory play or simply playing with Lego Duplo and allow them to stay focused while you take a few snaps close to the window.
Example 19
Visit a nearby farm, perhaps.
Here are my Dad’s beehives that he created for himself to be busy with during his retirement. My daughter is not allergic to bee products and it was safe to be there for her. The beehives are quite far away from her. The purple of the flowers, i.e. the meadow, creates a lovely composition. Also, her simple hairstyle is an attractive feature in the photo.
Enjoy playing and having fun together.
I am a little tired today to be honest as my daughter has had shingles over the last 10 days and she has just returned to school. We did a lot of reading together though. We read through all hard cover books we had available in the house I think. I will tell you more about it in the next post with some of my reflections on children and photography.
I am looking forward to seeing your images. Which one are you hoping to take?
Have a regenerating weekend.
Speak soon.
‘Mum, when I was smaller I was so happy playing with my brother but then the computer came and everything changed.’ My daughter complained at the dinner table.
Complaint noted. It takes time and effort to redress issues and create healthy love patterns, doesn’t it? The modern mum is a facilitator of those patterns and a pioneer too as she deals with issues unknown to her own mother and so there are no recipe books on this yet. How well do you think we are all doing here in this regard? Where could we find solutions?
Walking is probably the most natural facilitator for conversations and being together. I’d like to do a series of photographic posts on the importance of walking for the individual and for family life but then I am afraid that the series will finish like this (see the photo below) and I will not address the problem by blogging about it. :) I often wonder what problems can we realistically solve by blogging about them and I am not trying to criticize myself for blogging. This I think would be somewhat cruel to the part in me that likes to reach out to people in that manner but a lonely writer in an AI world feels more and more abandoned and threatened by the things that technology grabs from them without perceived and/or real returns.
I’ll leave the topic open as I feel the discussion is endless.
Till next time. x
If you have found a bottle, what message would be inside?
What do you need to read right now?
Text and photos: Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini
Unfortunately, I never learnt to play the guitar. Neither did my son. He chose hockey instead. Lots of people ask me how did we go about having a boy and a girl and in all honesty we did not leave it entirely to chance. Instead I read this book and applied the knowledge and this is how it was handled. The book is called Taking Charge of Your Fertility and it is written by Toni Weschler. I bought it via Amazon but I read the one with this Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Used) | Toni Weschler | 9780060881900 | Awesome Books. I know this is an unusual post but I also know that there is a lot of pain that surrounds the topic so I hope the pain can be eased or a solution found here.
Maybe it is a message worth spreading.
But of course, I cannot guarantee the results.
Love to all,
Alicja
Postcards Without Stamps 