"(and) Did you exchange..."

Exp: 50mm + 17 diopter @ f/1.8 - 1/8th
Film: Kodak Tmax 400
File: 9-6
At: - / 40
On: Resin Coated Grade 4 pearl (matte) 8x10

Exp: 50mm @ f/4 - 1/125th
Film: Ilford Delta 3200
File: 10-5
At: 1 / 50

On: Resin Coated Grade 4 Glossy 8x10

Since the birth of my son, I haven't had a chance to do much with photography other than do a little reading and try some experiments. The first print with today's title "(and) did you exchange" is an enormous enlargement of a dime using a 5$ set of diopter magnification filters I bought a couple of weeks ago. They fit both of my 52mm diameter lenses, and should provide lots of fun possibilities. I used the +4 for the feet picture on our family blog - teamsax.blogspot.com. They are split into 4 lenses, 10, 4, 2 and 1, and are additive- I used them all for this picture. 

The exchange made here is not only monetary, but also I've exchanged magnification for depth of field. Being a few degrees off of perpendicular means that the top and bottom of the coin would not be in focus. I didn't have enough light to stop down any further without my hand vibration blurring the picture, and by getting close I imposed quite a shadow on the subject. Photography is often about exchanging one variable for another.

I couldn't get away with not putting a picture of my new baby boy up too, and I'm proud to display the first print I've made of little Karl - the fourth Sax to bear the name in the last century. The exchange here is in reference to the pictured care provider on the day of his birth. We exchanged a hospital birth for a home one, an OB for a midwife, and medical interventions for the Bradley method. It is rare in our society to encounter such a value, for 3k$ we had a team of them standing by with us at every contraction, checking to make sure we were safe and guiding us along the way throughout the night and most of the 21 hours of active labor.

Without these wonderful people, and our commitment to our own success, I am certain that Karl's birth would have ended in a cesarean section. Instead, we got a *very* healthy little boy, and my wonderful wife is sitting beside me with a *much* easier recovery than she would have had otherwise. The only downside is that our insurance did not cover this wonderful experience. Where a hospital vaginal delivery would have cost 6k$, and the inevitable c-section would have cost 12k$ (and put Claire at risk for MRSA, among other things) the insurance company fails to realize the enormous savings that would result if they did not deny this coverage, and allowed more women to choose a midwife. This is why we need health care reform, and why we shouldn't be so fearful of how our society might "pay" for it. Often, a doctor knows best, and acts in the best interest of the safety of their patients, but in some situations, such as birth, they are acting on the needs of a society more concerned with litigation and convenience than on sound medicine.

With health care reform, we just might save money, and lives.