This hill is ubiquitous, but surprisingly difficult to locate in reality.
The iconic standard Windows XP desktop wallpaper of a sloping green hill under a bright blue sky is one of the most viewed photos in the world, but its generic friendliness has long baffled netizens about its location in the real world – some believe it is not a real photograph.
The editor-in-chief of SFGate recently decided to discover the earthly subject from the bottom of the computer and discovered it covered with wine grapes, across the street from an alpaca farm and Highway 12 in Sonoma, California.
The photo still has an incredible background story: Charles O’Rear took the now legendary photo of what is known as “Bliss” hill while driving to see his now wife on a Friday afternoon in January 1996.
“Most of the people who saw that photograph, billions of people, thought it was not a real photograph,” said O’Rear. “Driving through the hills of Sonoma in January always gets a carpet of green grass, it’s beautiful. I knew that and it was just the perfect light, the perfect clouds. “
O’Rear, 79, sent the photo to a photo agency. When Microsoft discovered O’Rear’s chance, the company paid an unknown, but supposedly six-digit, amount for perpetual rights and promptly distributed it worldwide as part of a $ 1 billion marketing campaign.
Despite O’Rear’s prolific photographic career photographing 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 the “Bliss” hill will be what he will be remembered.
“After 25 years of shooting at National Geographic, there will be no mention of Geographic on my headstone,” he told the publication.
Despite the ubiquity and fame that the image brought him – he says that “not a week goes by without some e-mail arriving about that photograph” – having his legacy linked to the technology company did not buy his loyalty.
“I became addicted to Apple,” he said.
