The Photographer Spotlight is a recurring feature on the DFP Education Blog, where we chat with a member of the Documentary Family Photographers Community so we can get to know them better.

As we continue on with introducing our DFP Community Moderator Team, today we get to learn more about kristine nyborg, originally from Norway and now living in vancouver canada. Kristine has a background in photojournalism and living in cold places.

Tell us about yourself! Give us an uninhibited, short and snappy bio in 10 sentences or less:

I love ice cream. I believe ice cream to be my kryptonite. I have been making photographs for 20 years, fueled on ice cream and a lot of stubborn passion. Most of my photographs have been published in various Norwegian newspapers and magazines (I’m Norwegian), although some have found their way to the broader world. I worked out of NYC for six years, had enough and moved to Alaska for a year to pursue a story there. That story changed my life, and since then I’ve focused most of my work on people living in the Arctic regions. I really love photographing in ridiculously cold places, and oddly they eat a lot of ice cream there too. In 2013 I had one kid, 15 months later I had twins and we moved to Canada. Since then I have been a barefoot poop wiper while my spouse pursued his PhD, and this year is the first time I feel like I’m more than just a servant to my children. I now run a business photographing people’s chaotic family life and help photographers who want to bridge into the media world.

Do you photograph anything besides documentary work? If so, how do you balance that?

That’s such a loaded question. I’ve been photographing every day for 20 years. So yes, I do. I photograph families for clients, our kids for us, my neighbors because they are a part of our lives too, school portraits for some extra butter, and at any given time I have a few personal projects running in the background. One I have been doing for 11 years, but since moving to Canada I’ve gotten to do it less frequently. I find balancing various photographic projects to be easy, it’s just photography. I love photography. I find balancing my family life with my photography to be much much harder, because I love both so much. My kids will always come first, but that is a hard reality sometimes.

Is there any projects you are currently working on? Tell us about them.

Currently I’m going through past projects trying to squeeze them into a new website (it will be up under my name this month). It’s really fun going back to old work with new eyes and finding different ways to present it. I’ve also had a faceless project going with my kids that I quite enjoy tinkering with, and I’m trying to find time to go back to Norway and work on an existing project within the next year.

What do you struggle with and how do you overcome those struggles?

Time. Worst adversary ever. Between raising kids and personal ambition there isn’t much time for sleep, but I’ve been told this gets easier as the children go off to school and can wipe their own behinds. I’m not entirely convinced, but time will tell. I work in the evenings and on the weekends. I parent all other minutes of my life. I have a good life, and I try to laugh when I can’t cope. Or hide in my phone. Which is not exactly setting a good example, but I have three kids who are 5 and 4, so I will ride that excuse as long as I can.

If you could give other photographers one piece of advice, what would it be?

Take your time. If you want to make a living using a camera it won’t happen over night. Have patience and dream big, but don’t get disappointed if National Geographic doesn’t come knocking. This career is full of doors that will open and close at random. Walk slowly and enjoy the ride. If you can manage to stay content and not get ahead of yourself so you burn out, then you’ll have a great time. (And if you’re burning out, come see me, I have some tricks.)