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.

Catching up.

Whoah, the days are roaring past and I feel I am too rushed. It is great being back at work, I'm having good fun over there, and everything goes really well at home (my husband is AMAZING. and I don't mean "amazing for a man", like "he's doing great at home, almost as good as me!", but rather "darn, he keeps everything so much more tidy that I ever did, and gets so much more done, and he is so much better at preparing than me". that kind of amazing. leaving me in awe.).  I feel I'm in a nice rhythm, although I have been taking on too much lately, with photography jobs both days most weekends in addition to teaching all week. It's going to slow down a bit now, and that's okay.

It has been weird not having any snow all winter, and the weather gods seem to agree, because they decided to give us all the snow in one go! It is light and fluffy and quite wonderful. The temperature is perfect, not too cold, so even the littlest ones can be outside for a long time.

And the best part is coming in: rosy cheeked and happy, into a warm kitchen with the fire lit. Sitting down and doing nothing for a bit. Letting it all sink in: Life is good.

_DSC3175.jpg
_DSC3174.jpg
_DSC3185.jpg
_DSC3200.jpg
_DSC3176.jpg
_DSC3178.jpg

Love at first sight.

Fluff.