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Do you recognise this picture?
Of course, you do! It’s the Microsoft Windows XP wallpaper! So much nostalgic feels, right?
Here’s a little tidbit about this picture. The Windows XP wallpaper is called Bliss and is the most viewed image on the planet! And it was shot almost two decades ago by a photographer named Charles O’Rear.
O’Rear took the picture way back in 1996 in California’s Sonoma County while he was on his way to visit his girlfriend.
He submitted it to a stock photo company called Westlight, which later on merged with Corbis, another stock photo company owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
In 2001, Microsoft picked the image, named it Bliss, and made it the calling card of its Windows XP operating system. It was practically on every computer!
Wow! Can you imagine what kind of doors that must’ve opened for its photographer?
According to PetaPixel, O’Rear has thoroughly relished his fame.
“I am turning seventy-six and realize how much the Microsoft Bliss photograph has meant to my life. As the photographer of the most viewed photo in history, I have enjoyed every minute of the fame.”
Well, guess what? The taker of this history-making, record-breaking photograph is back in action after 21 years! And as expected, his new work is equally breathtaking!
Charles O’Rear, now 76, has been invited by an airline to shoot for them ‘the next generation of wallpapers’, which can be used in smartphones.
And behold the three new masterpieces from O’Rear!
1. Seek an you shall find hints of pure bliss in this Peek-A-Boo Slot, taken in Utah.
2. Swirling, different-coloured formations of sandstone are what make White Pocket, Arizona, a wallpaper-worthy sight!
3. The Maroon Bells in Aspen, Colorado are named so for their bell-shaped, wine-hued twin peaks! Aren’t they just divine?
For Charles O’Rear, shooting this ‘sequel’ to Bliss was a thrilling experience.
Will there be history in the making again? There definitely seem a few ‘Windows’ of opportunity!
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