Guardian Eyewitness

I like this photo iPad app Guardian Eyewitness. It is put out by the UK newspaper the Guardian, in partnership with Canon. There are many great photography apps out there, but what sets this one apart is its simplicity plus functionality. It's one daily picture, usually tied to a current event. With the educational/informative iPad apps it can be tricky where to draw the line of information overload-- it's unfortunate when an app has great content but users can't be bothered to find it (can apply that to many other things in life but I digress...). And often as beautiful as a picture can be, having context makes it much more engaging.

Here's the basic set up. It has a little blurb at the bottom about the picture, and also a blurb from Canon about what makes the photo work. These are some of my favorites that I have pulled from the app, along with their blurbs (and my unnecessary thoughts along with it):

A man works on a construction site in Hanoi, Vietnam. (I would blow this up and put it on a wall.)

Terraced rice fields of Laohuzui in Yuanyang, Yunnan province in China. The blue strips are vegetable greenhouses, the black are trees and water embankments. (I have a thing for terraced rice fields...)

Ugandan opposition politician Olara Otunnu is shielded by his supporters as police fire colored liquid at protesters from water cannons during a march through Kampala. (This is a good example of a great picture accompanying a current event... the color and image is amazing even if it's superficial to be thinking that of a picture of a political protest...)

Wild stallions fight for supremacy as spring replenishes the plains below the Cincar Mountains, west Bosnia. (I know, this picture is so cliche, but I love it! Horses and soft green fields! Although I thought they were prancing gaily to the sound of a pied piper, not "fighting for supremacy." I would fit right in here, in terms of confrontation.)

Volcano eruption. (raaaarrrrrrr!!!!!)

I looked back at the past year and realized I had hardly pursued any of the interests I had wanted to pursue. Time to accept the silver lining to my clouds and re-focus.