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.

Six years old!

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Sweet lovely funny fantastic Ronja was six years old last Friday!

We love you, sweetiekins!

Her birthday is two days before Halloween, so we usually do the whole scary theme on the party, and this time too. Ronja had planned it all well in advance. In fact, she actually planted the seeds of the pumpkins in our kitchen garden with the birthday party in mind. And here are the results:

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Pretty scary, huh?

As always, our little troll wanted to dress up as a witch on her birthday. Which is great, because then her mum gets to go nuts with the facial paint, and makes her daughter look REALLY scary. This photo is as you can see from the party. The look had already worn off a bit, her hair wasn't like a birds nest anymore, but still, a proper witch.

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But, writing about this absolutely forces me to post another witch-photo of Ronja, from a masquerade they had in kindergarten last winter. I think it is the maximum nuts I've gone with the facial paint so far. The other kids were properly scared!

(Moahahahahaha!)

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No need for watchdogs when we are armed with a little witch like this!

How to baby proof your house.

Ronja (5) went to a flea market.