The Wider Image
Explore a range of meaningful photo stories from news photographers all around the globe
What the app does
We used to turn to TheGuardian Eyewitness app for our regular dose of photographic inspiration. Now this standalone app is no more (the content having been absorbed into The
Guardian app), we’ve cast our net wider, and The Wider Image from the world’s biggest news agency makes for a deeper photography experience, delivering photo stories from around the globe.
When to use it
While there’s a sprinkling of insight from the photographers throughout the app, this is more of an inspirational showcase to remind us of the power that photography has to bring perspective and insight to the big new stories. The app is updated in concert with Reuters’
The Wider Image website, which has contributions from 600 photographers.
How to use it
It can take a short while to get used to the app’s navigation, as it mixes both horizontal and vertical swiping, but there’s lots to discover. The breadth of the content is excellent, and as well as selecting individual reports to read from the main screen, you can use the map view to pick your photo story based on its location, or choose your favourite photographer and go from there.
Each photographer has a mini profile, where they briefly discuss their favourite shot and provide some background to their working practices via a potted interview. There’s a splash of video content available in the app too, as well as before-and-after sliders so you can compare the impact of changes made to a location perhaps by a war, natural disaster or redevelopment. Or you can simply gaze in wonder at the stunning photography. There are other similar ‘gallery’ apps out there, but few with a wider reach, or better images.