I commend you on PhotoMedia magazine, which I discovered yesterday at Keeble & Shuchat in Palo Alto [Calif.]. Unlike thinly veiled advertising burritos that are like newspaper inserts in the Sunday paper, your quality magazine is head and shoulders above the rest. Your quality writing and distinctive printing are great. Because this was a free magazine, I immediately looked for the catch but found none: It is a winner.

I’ve taken photographs for 50 years and have seen photography publications ranging from the banal to the esoteric. But this particular magazine seems to speak to me, because it is neither a blunt advertising vehicle, nor an abstract art rag pandering to those on the fringe of photography.

Congratulations and I’m glad that I found you guys. I’m sending in my subscription!

Jeremy S. Lezin,
Soquel, Calif.

Home and Studio: Venice, Calif., or wherever his pictures take him (jeremykidd.com).

Hobbies: Lots, including surfing and guitar playing. “I write songs, [do some] martial arts, soccer,” he says. “I’ve skated a little.”

Equipment: A Canon 5D and “any tripod that I have handy,” Kidd says. “I love my Epson 3800 printer. I love Photoshop.” But, he adds, “I feel that...

Capturing the magic of imperfection with iPhone camera apps

My Facebook page is filled with new comments: "Wow, that is a great photo!" "I can't believe you still have a Holga!" "You're still shooting slides?" "Where do you get Polaroid film?" "You have a darkroom?"

Well, not exactly.

My photographer friends' comments are a testament to something we have all lost in the digital age: the magic of an imperfect photograph. Like many professionals today, I started with film and toy cameras and developed my photographs in a darkroom. Many of my most cherished images had a magical quality, brought about by plastic lenses, light leaks...