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.

Longing.

Love + vegetables
"cows", "farm life", "spring", "winter"
The brutal ways of spring: We had a little taste, of the sun warming our faces, of hearing the sound of snow thawing and drippetydropping from the roof, of smelling rotten cat poo emerging from under the snow, of remembering and regretting that I didn't plant tulip bulbs last autumn either, of feeling in our hearts that life was about to return to our spot on the planet. And then, as it always does, it turned on us. The white fluff which name shall not be spoken, returned - and with a vengeance - and it could just as well be the beginning of December for all we know. No signs of spring whatsoever.
The only way to survive this, is by trusting our experience, the knowledge that one day, and maybe in not too long, spring will be here, for real, and we will again have freckles on our noses and feel our beings melted by and filled up with sunlight.
I know someone else who is looking forward to coming out again, too:
DSC_0667DSC_0612DSC_0659

Today:

Lucky Bunny.