5 Crazy, Bliss-Filled Facts About the Most-Viewed Photo of All Time

5 Crazy, Bliss-Filled Facts About the Most-Viewed Photo of All Time

Who do you think photographed the most-viewed photo of all time? Ansel Adams? Annie Leibovitz? Henri Cartier-Bresson? Nope. In fact, you probably never heard of Charles O’Rear, but his photo, “Bliss,” taken in January 1996 while driving through California’s Napa and Sonoma counties in California, is the most recognized photo in the world.

Here are five interesting facts about this photo:

1. It’s the default wallpaper photo for Microsoft Windows XP. It is estimated that over a billion people have seen this photo, because it’s what you see as your wallpaper if you own Windows XP, which has been around since 2001 (the last release was in 2008) and was widely adapted.
2. It was taken by a former National Geographic photographer. Charles O’Rear has worked on assignment for National Geographic and was affiliated with the magazine from 1971 to 1995. In 1978, he was sent to the Napa Valley to photograph the wine region; he developed a long-term interest in the area. “Bliss” came during one of his many return visits.
3. It is definitely not Photoshopped. According to Wikipedia, O’Rear shot the photo using a Mamiya RZ67 medium-format camera on a tripod and shot it on Fujifilm Velvia film, an emulsion known for its saturated color palate. He took four shots and got back into his truck. O’Rear claims it is a straight shot and was never manipulated. Says O’Rear: “I didn’t ‘create’ this. I just happened to be there at the right moment and documented it. If you are Ansel Adams and you take a particular picture of Half Dome and want the light a certain way, you manipulate the light. He was famous for going into the darkroom and burning and dodging. Well, this is none of that.”
4. Microsoft may have paid more than $100,000 for it. O’Rear sold the image to Corbis to use as a stock photo; years later, Microsoft chose a version of the image and licensed it from O’Rear. Microsoft offered O’Rear what he says is the second-largest payment ever made to a photographer for a single image. O’Rear signed a confidentiality agreement, but Petapixel reports he was paid at least $100k for its use.
5. Microsoft paid only $45 to another photographer for an alternative screenshot. While many Microsoft users simply kept the default image, some chose alternative images provided by Microsoft, including “Autumn,” by Peter K. Burian. Burian’s photo was also a Corbis stock shot, but it was royalty-free, and he received a standard $45 licensing fee from Microsoft. (Burian spent 15 years writing about photography for Shutterbug magazine and is a household name to long-time readers of that publication.)