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This hill is ubiquitous but surprisingly difficult to locate in reality.
The iconic Windows XP default wallpaper of a sloping green hill under a vivid blue sky is one of the most viewed photos in the world, but its generic coziness has long baffled viewers about its location. in the real world – some believing it’s not a real photo.
The SFGate editor recently set out to find the earthly subject of the IT context and discovered it covered in wine grapes, across from an alpaca farm and Highway 12 in Sonoma, California.
The photo even has an incredible story: Charles O’Rear took the now legendary photo of what is known as ‘Bliss’ Hill as he drove to see his wife today on a Friday afternoon in January 1996.
“A majority of people who saw this photograph, billions of people, thought it was not a real photo,” said O’Rear. “As you walk through the Sonoma Hills in January, there’s always a carpet of green grass, it’s beautiful. I knew it, and it was just the perfect light, the perfect clouds.
O’Rear, 79, uploaded the photo to a photo agency. When Microsoft found out about O’Rear’s shot, the company paid an unknown but seemingly six-figure sum for the rights to it in perpetuity and quickly placed it worldwide as part of a campaign. billion dollar marketing campaign.
Despite O’Rear’s prolific photographic career for the Los Angeles Times, the Kansas City Star and, for more than two decades, National Geographic, he is well aware that his ubiquitous image of “Bliss” Hill will be remembered.
“After 25 years of photographing at National Geographic, there will be no mention of Geographic on my gravestone,” he told the publication.
Despite the ubiquity and fame that the image has brought him – he says “not a week goes by without an email coming in about this photo” – the fact that his legacy is tied to the tech company has not bought his loyalty from him.
“I became addicted to Apple,” he says.
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