Bliss – The story behind one of the most famous photographs (2012)

Summary

Image: Charles O’Rear photographed this hillside near his home one winter’s morning when the landscape took on an almost dreamlike quality ©Microsoft Corporation ‘Bliss’ is an image of a green, lush hillside, partially lit by bright sunshine. Above the hillside there’s a bright-blue sky peppered with cumulus and cirrus clouds. Low down in the frame, a dark line indicates a division between fields, and the foreground is dotted with yellow wildflowers. Beyond the gracefully sloping hillside, distant mountains are visible. Critics might argue that the image is bland and lacks a point of interest, while supporters would say that its evocation of a bright, clear day in a beautiful landscape is itself the subject. However, is it even a real landscape at all? Many have wondered whether it is actually a computer-generated scene, assembled in Photoshop from a number of different images. One of the most famous photographs in the world Although it’s a picture that can divide opinion, it is, nevertheless, one of the most famous photographs in the world. It is familiar to perhaps billions of people as a result of being chosen as the default ‘wallpaper’ image in the Windows XP program, launched in 2002. However, few people who recognise the image would be able to name the photographer: Charles O’Rear. At the time the photo was taken, in January 1998, O’Rear was 56 and had enjoyed a successful career as a professional photographer. He initially worked on The Kansas City Star and Los Angeles Times before shooting a wide range of assignments for National Geographic. The major turning point in his life came in 1978, when National Geographic sent him on an assignment to photograph winemaking in Napa Valley, around 50 miles north of San Francisco in California. O’Rear fell in love with the region and afterwards went to live there permanently, settling in St Helena. He also began to specialise in photographs of winemaking, initially concentrating on the vineyards of California, but late...