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Bliss as it appears in Windows XP.
Bliss, originally titled Bucolic Green Hills, is the name of the default computer wallpaper for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. It is a virtually unedited photograph of a green hill and blue sky with clouds in the Los Carneros American Viticultural Area of California's Wine Country. Former National Geographic photographer Charles O'Rear took the photo in January 1996 and Microsoft bought the rights in 2000. It is estimated that billions of people have seen the picture, possibly making it the most viewed photograph in history.[1]
Overview[]
Former National Geographic photographer Charles O'Rear, a resident of the nearby Napa Valley, took the photo on film with a medium-format Mamiya RZ67 camera while on his way to visit his girlfriend in 1996. While it was widely believed later that the image was digitally manipulated or even created with software such as Adobe Photoshop, O'Rear says it never was.[2][3] He sold it to Westlight (later acquired by Corbis Corporation) for use as a stock photo.[4][5] Several years later, Microsoft engineers chose a digitized version of the image and licensed it from O'Rear.
Over the next decade, it has been claimed to be the most viewed photograph in the world during that time. Since it was taken, the landscape in it has changed, with grapevines planted on the hill and field in the foreground, making O'Rear's image impossible to duplicate for the time being. That has not stopped other photographers from trying, and some of their attempts have been included in art exhibits.
The popularity of this picture grew as users associate it with Windows XP memes and parodies.[6]
References[]
- ↑ Sweeney, Cynthia (March 26, 2014). "Say goodbye to 'Bliss'". St. Helena Star. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
- ↑ Taylor, Victoria (April 12, 2014). "The story behind the famous Windows XP 'Bliss' wallpaper". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
- ↑ Heisler, Yoni (July 23, 2015). "The most viewed photo in the history of the world" (in en-US). BGR. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
- ↑ Metadata of Bliss, Windows XP Beta 2
- ↑ Pickerell, Jim (May 20, 1998). "Corbis Acquires Westlight". Selling Stock. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ↑ Clark, David (May 28, 2012). "Bliss by Charles O'Rear: Iconic Photograph". Amateur Photographer. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
External links[]
- Street view of the hill at Google Maps
- Bliss (image) at Wikipedia
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Wikipedia (article: Bliss (image) )
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