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.

The big things in life.

When I decided to go into photography full time, the thoughts spinning in my head were mostly concerned with worry: Would I get enough jobs? Would I be competent to do them? Would people be happy with my work? I believed in myself (if I hadn't, going for it would just be plain stupid, wouldn't it), but I was still worried. Now as things have moved along wonderfully, the first year has been mind-blowing in every way, I am getting enough work and people are happy with it, I am seeing other aspects of having this job, things I hadn't thought of that much before. I am included into the most sacred and memorable of moments in people's lives, and the reality of that hits me every time I am invited to do a job. During the last month or so, I have been at two weddings and two births, and now I'm waiting for another birth. The weddings, full of excitement and happiness, and the births, hard work, magic and wonder, and then complete bliss.

So lately, I have come to think of my job like this: It's all about love. I work with love. Could it seriously get any better than that?

And then, winter came.

Teamwork.