Picture perfect: World’s ‘most viewed’ image and desktop background favorite was taken in 1996 just north of San Francisco
- Green hill used in Microsoft Windows XP is based outside Sonoma, California
- Charles O’Rear said he took the photo while driving to see his girlfriend
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The location of one of the most recognizable photos in the world has been found.
The iconic Windows XP ‘Bliss’ background, which features a green hill overlooked by a sunny blue sky was a staple of office and computer room décor in the 2000s. It was the default background for PCs running Windows XP for its run from 2001 to 2007.
While many may have instinctively believed it was fake — almost to serene to be from our chaotic world — it is actually just outside of Sonoma, north of San Francisco, California.
The photo, which has been viewed by over 1billion people, was snapped by photographer Charles O’Rear on a Friday afternoon in January, 1996, who spotted the shot while driving to meet his then-girlfriend. He said that the photo was never edited but sold to Microsoft as it was.
Since, however, the picture has turned up ‘everywhere’ including in people’s homes, offices and even the White House and the Kremlin.
Pictured above is the hill in Sonoma, California, as pictured by Microsoft in 2001 (picture taken in 1996) and again shown today. The photographer says the photo was never edited and was taken using a traditional camera
The hill was photographed in 1996. Photographer Charles O’Rear says he spotted the view while he was driving to meet his girlfriend and hopped out of the car to take the picture. He can’t remember whether clouds were present before he took the picture
Above is the hill pictured today. It shows that a vineyard has now been placed in front of it and some trees have grown up behind, making it difficult to re-create the view
The hill is just off the Carneros Highway outside Sonoma, California. This is one of the most dangerous roads in the area
Mr O’Rear explained where the image was taken to Slate almost 23 years after the software was released.
Windows XP was used by hundreds of millions of people when it first came out and received critical acclaim for its ease of use.
It was eventually superseded by other systems such as Windows Vista and Windows Server in 2008 as well as the arrival of the Apple Mac Book in 2006.
But by 2014, when Microsoft finally ceased support for the system, some 300million computers were said to still be running on Windows XP.
Today about 0.1 percent of all computers globally still use the system. Famous figures still using it include Vladimir Putin, according to reports.
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Mr O’Rear, who still lives in the Napa Valley near the iconic hillside, revealed how he took the photo.
He said: ‘There is a time of year here north of San Francisco where after we get the rains the grasses turn green and I know the chances of finding these beautiful hillsides are really good.
‘Every Friday afternoon, I would go to visit my girlfriend near San Francisco.
‘On this particular day in January, while driving this winding little — what I call a country road — there it was.
‘[I thought] my God, the grass is perfect, it’s green, the sun is out, there’s some clouds.
‘It could have been no clouds and by the time I parked, by the time I set my camera up, the clouds might have come in because everything changed so quickly at that point.
‘So now I get the camera ready and here come the clouds and I make a frame, and I crank to the next one — which we don’t do digitally anymore — and it takes care of everything.’
Mr O’Rear said he took four photographs of the hill that day which were later purchased by Microsoft.
The price was not revealed, but they were so expensive that none of the usual courier services — like FedEx — would carry them.
Eventually, Mr O’Rear had to be flown to the company headquarters in Redmond, Washington, to deliver them in person.
The image was taken on a Mamiya RZ67 camera with a color Fuji Film and a Tripod.
Charles O’Rear said that he was paid so much for the photo by Microsoft that he had to travel to their headquarters to deliver it in person
Pictured above is the Carneros highway near where the hill is located
Despite claims that the image was altered, Mr O’Rear said that this was not the case but that he used a Fuji film which can help enhance the colors.
Speaking about the impact the image has had, he said: ‘I had no idea where it was going to go. I suspect the engineers or anybody involved in building Windows XP had no idea that it would have the success that it had.
‘It is everywhere as we all know, we see it in so many places.
‘I’ve seen it in the situation room in the White House, maybe a news photograph as well. I’ve seen it in shots in the Kremlin where they would have interviews.
‘Anybody now from age 15 on for the rest of their life will remember this photograph.’
The hill is now being ploughed up and a vineyard has now been built over the front of the shot. Trees have also grown up behind the hill.
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