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.

Winter break.

Love + vegetables
"Freja", "Mr. Payne", "Ronja", "family life"
Lordy lord, how good it was to have a week off! It has been filled with lovely mornings of card playing and time to faff about (as Mr. Payne would have put it), more work done on the house of course (crazy times!), a couple of café visits, a bit of work planning the semester onwards (such is the life of a teacher), and most importantly a big-girls-only trip to Oslo, to my friend and her sweet baby boy, for lunch and to the museum of natural history. It has indeed been a lovely week.
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Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown:

New treasure!