CHARLES O'REAR and HIS FAMOUS WALLPAPER

Staring at the screen and thinking for a nice topic to blog I've noticed my wallpaper on my desktop and I wonder who captured this picture.


I've been using this one on my PC about two and half years now.  This is the default wallpaper used by the MICROSOFT in WINDOWS XP. Yes this one, and apparently it become the FAMOUS LANDSCAPE WALLPAPER IN THE WORLD.

But the question is who actually captured this famous photo landscape.

SOURCE
  
Charles O'Rear or better known as Chuck O'Rear to his friends, is an American photographer best known for his photos of WINE COUNTRY and the image use by MICROSOFT, they called it BLISS.  Taken at the SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,1996.

Now I know and the story behind BLISS is very interesting too.  
   
This was actually his usual road to meet his girlfriend while ago but suddenly one day he watched how soothing the sky was and how beautiful the cloud was arranged so he decided to stop his car and captured it. Eventually it was used by Microsoft and he would never expect it would become so famous!

So when you said famous, how much O'rear get for taking this picture? Hmmmm. I bet it is truly BIG, as famous his picture was.  Right?  

According to NAPA VALLEY REGISTER, O'rear stated that: 

It was "EXTRAORDINARY" and second only to that paid to another living, working photographer for the photo of the Ex- Pres. Bill Clinton hugging Monica Lewinsky.  



O'rear has also taken photographs for BILL GATES' private Seattle stock photography company CORBIS

 
You too can visit this exact place using your GOOGLE STREET VIEW using your GOOGLE MAP.  Here you can get 360 degree view of the area, and see how it looks today.

By entering this following coordinates:

38.248966, -122.410269

Behind  where O'Rear stood, you can see more vineyards
Photo credit by JW VAN WESSEL 


23 comments :

  1. Interesting! very interesting!
    I never thought of checking who owns this particular photo.
    I just thought its not real or something manipulated for the desktop. ;)

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  2. It's actually nice that your curiousity got the best of you. I mean, I never really gave the photo any thought before. Though I've seen it on my screen way too many times. It's interesting to know how it got to that and who took it. :)

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  3. I ve never thought about that as well but it was my default wall paper

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  4. Wow!.. Di sumagi sa isip ko to ah..
    Tagal ko na siyang gamit as wallpaper pero ngayon kulang nalaman yung info ng "bliss"..:)
    Thanks sa Info.

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  5. Wow! I can't believe that this is a real photo. I thought it was computer generated or something. Good to know...Thanks Raine!

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  6. Interesting to know the story behind a famous photo.
    Hmmm, I have to take more photos... who knows if any one of them might bring me riches some day, right?

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  7. I've read about this photo before, and of course a big paycheck for this single photo. An ordinary place made extra-ordinary by Charles...

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  8. That's an interesting bit of trivia and he's getting paid an extraordinary amount for this and funny that it was Bill Clinton's photo that paid more than this iconic photo.

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  9. I've read this article sa yahoo too, amazing to realize na napaka-simple ng shot and it became a big hit! meaning nothing is impossible baka one of my shots will be big too someday.. nangangarap lang.. hehe. Malay natin di ba!

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  10. Wow, nobody can really tell when luck comes in ones lifetime. What he only did was just a few seconds of stopping and capturing a beautiful scenery. And now it was viewed as "Extraordinary" =)

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  11. Interesting Trivia. yan din dati ang wallpaper ng pc ko, but my son had repalced it with an Anime one. LOL. How much nga kaya ang binayad sa kanya?

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  12. Same here, I never change my default desktop wallpaper the time when I'm still using WinXP. I always felt relax and calm whenever I saw the breathtaking view of green hill and beautiful clouds.

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  13. very interesting facts here. Well researched ito and mukhang me kwento talaga sa bawat wallpaper ng computer mo.

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  14. I've encountered this news in yahoo as well. I'm thinking he's pretty rich right now. :D

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  15. So this is the man behind that iconic windows wallpaper. And to think all this time, I thought it was a graphic design made using a computer. Thanks for sharing this.

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  16. Thanks so much guys. Yes sis Adeline, he's the man behind this beautiful landscape. And to all photo bloggers, keep on clicking your cameras, who knows in the future your captured pictures will be as FAMOUS as BLISS. ^_^

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  17. Great story! How I'd wish that one of my shots get featured like the Bliss shot, as well.

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  18. interesting! now I know who's the man behind that stunning photograph:) kala ko nung una graphics lang:)

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  19. Nice Article. Interesting Read.

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  20. Now I know where that wall paper originated. But it's already enhanced right?

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  21. Clever! Great trivia. I never thought it was a really photo. That's wonderful to see the man behind that famous photo. :)

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  22. I have a read a similar post somewhere. I was kind of shocked that it was a photo taken by a real person with a real camera. Lol. When I was a kid, I thought it was a picture made through Paint. :))

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