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.

Me & my camera.

So I've taken that step, the one I have been pondering about for a while, and started my own little photography practice. Every compliment I have received about my photos, either here on the blog, on instagram or in real life, has been saved within, and combined with this love I have for photography, it was easy. I decided to jump. I am now BYGDEFOTOGRAFEN. Yes. Translated from Norwegian it means something like the country photographer or maybe the village photographer.

It's my dream life: on the road, traveling between people and places, me and my camera.

So far I've already had some jobs and more are awaiting, so it's all very exciting for me. And there's even more plans in the making, but they are for later… Sometimes everything just opens up and you have to grab that chance, go for it.

So anyway, if you are interested, you are more than welcome to visit my website over at www.bygdefotografen.no, and if you're not too far away and want me to take pictures for you, I will!

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Cocoon.

Stills from project, part II.