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.

From the sky.

The mist in the morning is amazing, magic. It embraces everything, covers the valley in a thick blanket; and then suddenly the sun breaks through and burns it all off in minutes. It's like watching the day begin in fast motion. And in the hour or two spent inside while the mist was still enveloping us, we've lit the fire, had warm oatmeal and tea, done some knitting, and most certainly done a whole lot of jigsaw puzzling. And then, instantly, it's time to go outside. We pack our little rucksacks with a thermos and a blanket, and head off to the distant shore of our fields. There, the hunt for stickmen and mushrooms await. And some very curious sheep!
Yesterday, as we were out walking the fields, we stood on a hill looking down towards a lower field, it is surrounded by trees of all sorts. Suddenly, the wind caught up, and hundreds of yellow leaves let go of their trees and danced like snowflakes all over. It's snowing! And as the leaves fell towards the ground, we could see that they looked like little parachutes, slowly spinning towards earth. It was beautiful. Ronja ran around trying to catch them all, laughing out loud and free.
Soon, there will be real snowflakes sailing down from above, and we'll laugh up at the sky again, catching them with our mouths.
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Important project in the making.

I gave in...