A mother of four, photographer, nature lover. Someone trying to make sense of it all, through photos and stories. 

I try to be free in all senses of the word, so I made the leap and now work with what I love doing; taking pictures, storing this life in moments, both for myself and for clients. My heart is in photographing birth and motherhood, but I take on just about any photography job. 
(See my birth photos at www.birth.no and the rest of my work portfolio at www.mariavatne.no.)

I live on a farm in Norway with my man Nik and my children Ronja, Freja, Falk and Ulv, plus a bunch of animals. We grow our own food as far as the seasons allow it, we don't go to kindergarten, the three youngest ones will be homeschooled.

We govern our own lives, we strive for independence, we want to be in this life wild and free and full of love.

Paradoxes.

She's smiling, but you can see it in her eyes that she's been crying. Putting up a brave face, she shows her work of art to the camera, and I have to hurry up and take the picture. Because in the back, there's someone luring, and she's not even two years old, but still able to tear down the most wonderful of castles. And she's torn this one down maybe seven times before we managed to press the button.
And even though the big sister is the bigger sister, she still cries when it happens, and gets frustrated, but tries to live with it and be a big girl. And I see her every day trying to deal and to accept the craziness it sometimes is to have a little sister of this sort. A wonderfully cute, wonderfully funny, and wonderfully capable little sister. A wonderful creator of chaos.
Sisterhood isn't always easy, but how full of love it is. Freja is lucky to have a big sister like this one.
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Our castle, as of now.

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