Contrary to what many people think, the iconic Windows XP Wallpaper (which was called Blissor in Italian Hills) is a place that really exists. The very famous green hill against the backdrop of a blue sky adorned with white clouds is located in the wine area of The Carnerosin Sonoma County, in CaliforniaThe photo was taken in 1996 from Charles O’Rear with a Mamiya RZ67 medium format camera and Fujifilm Velvia film and was purchased by Microsoft in 2000 for an unknown sum.
How the Windows XP Wallpaper Was Born
On a Friday afternoon in January 1996, Charles O’Rearphotographer of National Geographicwas traveling from St. Helena to his girlfriend’s house. As he drove along the Sonoma HighwayO’Rear was fascinated by a hill covered with green grass just sprouting, thanks to the rains that occurred at that time. According to what the photographer said, in fact, in that area «there is a time of year in mid-winter, in January, when it rains and the grass is bright green».
The hill that caught O’Rear’s attention, moreover, was completely bare “thanks” to an infestation of phylloxeraa small insect that attacks the roots of the vine, destroying them. This inconvenience led local winemakers to remove their plantations from the hills, which probably made the landscape immortalized by the photographer even more evocative and minimal.
Using a camera Mamiya RZ67 medium format and Fujifilm Velvia filmfamous for its peculiarity of saturating colors, O’Rear took some shots of the hill located precisely in theLos Carneros Wine Areain the Sonoma Countyin California.
Thinking back to the day he took the photo, in an interview given to PC WorldO’Rear said: «I went out, took a couple of pictures and kept going. And the rest is history.». O’Rear later posted it on the stock photo service Corbisfounded by Bill Gates in 1989. Somehow the photo got noticed and in 2000 the photographer was approached by Microsoft to acquire all the rights to use the image. O’Rear was offered a sum of money that he described as «the second highest ever paid for a single photograph“, although due to a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft, it is still not known how much this figure amounts to.
After accepting the deal, O’Rear left for Seattle to personally deliver the original film to Microsoft. No courier, in fact, wanted to take charge of the shipment, given the potential value that the photograph had and the lack of adequate insurance to cover any problems during its transport.
As reported CNETseveral years after the release of Windows XP O’Rear was contacted via email by a Microsoft engineer who wrote to him:
We’re just curious where that photo was taken. Most of us in engineering think it was Photoshopped. Some of us think it was taken not far from Microsoft headquarters in Washington.
In response to the email, O’Rear wrote:
Sorry guys, you are all wrong. It is real, it is near where I live, and what you see (…) has not been retouched.
The image that became the iconic Windows XP wallpaper and was renamed “Bliss”so it was never photoshopped by the photographer even if, to be fair, Microsoft made some small changes by slightly cropping the image on the left and accentuating the green of the grass.
Where is the Windows XP Hill and how has it changed over time?
There Windows XP Hillas already mentioned before, is located in California and, precisely, it can be identified through the following geographic coordinates:
- 38°15’00.50″N 122°24’39.00″W
As you can well imagine, over time the appearance of the hill has changed considerably. By going to this Google Maps page and using the function See other dates (available in Street View), you can see what the hill looks like at various times by selecting one of the appropriate tabs (May 2024, Nov 2022, Jun 2016, Jan 2009and so on).
