WHILE almost everyone knows the photo, there are very few who know the tale behind Microsoft’s Bliss.
The picture of the lush rolling hills adorned by a crisp blue sky is so perfect that millions assume it isn’t even a real photograph.
Charles O’Rear took one of the world’s most famous photos
MicrosoftHis image, Bliss, was bought by Microsoft in 2001[/caption]
But the idyllic image, which has served as the default desktop wallpaper for its Windows XP system, was snapped by Charles O’Rear on an unassuming January afternoon in 1996.
Five years later, when the picture had become just another in a vast catalogue for the American photographer, Microsoft came across O’Rear’s image and decided it was ideal for its new system.
The image soon became a comforting sight for millions of computer users for years to come – but the story behind the snap was never told.
Years later, O’Rear, now 82, revealed the love story that led to Bliss’ capture.
By 1994, O’Rear – who worked as a photographer for National Geographic magazine – had been through two divorces and was raising a son with a disability.
But that year, his paths crossed with former journalist Daphne Larkin at a lunch in Napa Valley.
Although O’Rear had a girlfriend at the time, the pair struck up a common empathy as they had both raised children with disabilities.
Larkin’s son, who had a congenital heart defect and had heart failure, lung disease and could not speak , had died in 1992.
O’Rear told People: “We do have that in common, an appreciation, an understanding, an empathy.
“If each of us had not had kids with disabilities, I’m not sure that would’ve allowed us to connect on the level we did.
“It really helped bring us together.”
O’Rear broke off his romance and he and Larkin struck up a relationship.
He would often drive more than an hour to visit Larkin from his home in California to hers in Marin County.
It was on one of these journeys he stopped in Sonoma to take the photo that would become known as Bliss.
He submitted the image to photo agency Westlight under the name Bucolic Green Hills.
Then in 1998, Westlight was acquired by Corbis – a stock agency used by Microsoft at the time.
In 2001, O’Rear was then approached by Microsoft who wanted to buy the rights to the photo.
The snapper said the amount he got was the second largest picture payment ever made to a photographer for a single image.
Although O’Rear is not allowed to reveal the exact amount because of a confidentiality agreement, it’s thought to have been in the six figures.
O’Rear flew to Seattle to hand deliver the original film, which then went on to provide the backdrop for millions of Windows XP computers.
Claims surfaced that the image had been digitally altered to enhance its colours – but O’Rear insists it was never edited.
Instead, he said the saturated colours resulted from the use of Fujifilm’s Velvia film.
YouTubeO’Rear with one of his trusty cameras[/caption]