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.

Traditions.

Traditions.

Maria Vatne

I've never been a fan of doing stuff just because it's a tradition or a norm; I want things to have a real meaning to me, or else I just can't be bothered. The Norwegian national day is one of these things. YES - it is nice with the parade with all the beautiful and happy kids, yes it's great to meet friends and family and celebrate, and of course I deeply appreciate my country and the enormous privilege I have by being born here. I am aware of this. But my way of celebrating my freedom is not stressing my butt off to get dressed up (and remember, I have four kids to dress up too) in order to check all the boxes you have to on this day. My way of being thankful to this country is going out in nature and soaking it all in. Plus planting potatoes, of course. So this is our tradition in the 17th of May: We plant our potatoes, bake something, and then head out. No stress, no fancy clothes, we keep it simple. Today, we went to the mountain next door, Skrim. We brought food and cake, and as we left from home we saw a lovely blue sky over the hills. We ate and played and found frog eggs and frogs, explored the vicinity and had a wonderful day. And Wolfie, the nutcase, walked the whole way back to the car from where we camped - about 2,5 kilometres - happily prancing along. A little man out in the woods.
And just when we reached the car, he fell into a puddle with his whole head, I mean everything, hair and all. And then we laughed, went home and here I am, feeling so happy that we get to do this our way. Our hearts, our lives, our freedom, our traditions.

Twenty-four hours in paradise.

Twenty-four hours in paradise.
Afternoons.

Afternoons.