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Bliss (photograph)

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38°14′56″N 122°24′37″W / 38.248966°N 122.410269°W / 38.248966; -122.410269

Bliss as seen in a clean Windows XP desktop (photo taken in 1996)
Approximately the same location in November 2006, showing vines covering the hillside and foreground. By Goldin+Senneby.
External image
image icon "21st Century Bliss" by Tony Immoos (2010) reportedly "closely resembles the 1996 photograph."

Bliss is the name of the default computer wallpaper of Windows XP, produced from a photograph of a landscape in Los Carneros AVA, Sonoma County, California, United States. The image contains rolling green hills and a blue sky with cumulus and cirrus clouds. In the Dutch and Portuguese versions of Windows XP, the wallpaper is named Ireland and Alentejo, respectively, despite the fact that the image was taken in the United States.

The photograph was made on June 24, 1996, for the digital-design company HighTurn by Charles O'Rear, a former National Geographic photographer and resident of St. Helena, California. According to O'Rear, the image was not digitally enhanced or manipulated in any way. The image was captured from the side of the highway 12/121 with a Mamiya RZ67. The approximate location is 3101 Fremont Drive (Sonoma Highway), Sonoma, California. The coordinates for the hill are 38°15'00.50"N 122°24'39.00"W. Although O'Rear's focus when he made the photograph was on the subject of wine making in the Napa Valley, the hill did not have grapevines at the time. Vines were subsequently planted on the site.

In 2001, with the release of Windows XP, the photograph was part of a $200 million "Yes you can" advertising campaign for Windows XP by the advertising agency McCann-Erickson. The campaign launched on television during one of ABC Sports's Monday Night Football games. The commercials included Madonna's song "Ray of Light".

On November 27, 2006, Goldin+Senneby visited the site in Sonoma Valley where the Bliss image was taken, re-photographing the same view now full of grapevines (pictured). Their work After Microsoft was first shown in the exhibition "Paris was Yesterday" at the gallery La Vitrine in April 2007. It was later exhibited at 300m in Gothenburg.

In 2006, Sébastien Mettraux, a Swiss artist, made a photograph titled Bliss, after Bill Gates, 2006. Mettraux, who lives and works near the Vallée de Joux, explained that it was taken in Les Esserts-de-Rives, Switzerland. A local rumour suggested that the hill of the Windows XP wallpaper came from this area in the heart of the "watch valley". It is a mistake but the photography shows that the hill is a lookalike. This photography was shown at the "Images'08" festival in Vevey.

In May 2010, GMA News reported that photographer Tony Immoos, who lived nearby the location, captured a close rendition of the original, which he dubbed "21st Century Bliss." Immoos claimed that "the 2006 re-shoot was taken from the wrong location, approximately 350' farther Northeast, it is of the correct hill, but it is shot in the wrong direction."

References

  1. ^ Messieh, Nancy (28 August 2011). "Ever wonder where the Windows XP default wallpaper came from?". thenextweb.com. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  2. ^ "The unretouched curves of WinXP's most famous wallpaper". GMA News Online. August 30, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  3. Turner, Paul (22 February 2004). "No view of Palouse from Windows". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane. Archived from the original on 16 November 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  4. Younger, Carolyn (18 January 2010). "Windows XP desktop screen is a Napa image". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  5. Freedman, Wayne (April 7, 2014). "Windows XP background is photo of Sonoma hillside". ABC7. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  6. Sweeney, Cynthia (26 March 2014). "Say goodbye to 'Bliss'". St. Helena Star. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  7. Taylor, Victoria (April 12, 2014). "The story behind the famous Windows XP 'Bliss' wallpaper". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  8. Luckerson, Victor (April 11, 2014). "Meet the Guy Who Took the Most Famous Desktop Photo of All Time". TIME.
  9. Saunders, Christopher (16 October 2001). "Microsoft Hopes "Ray of Light" Makes XP Shine". ClickZ. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  10. Maddox, Kate (26 November 2001). "Windows XP takes to the air; Microsoft pushes new operating system with ads targeting both business and consumer markets". goliath.ecnext.com. Goliath. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  11. Thurrott, Paul (11 October 2001). "Windows XP Marketing: Yes You Can". Windows IT Pro. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  12. "After Microsoft". Goldin+Senneby. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  13. "Paris was Yesterday". Hanne's Art and Culture Blog. Hanne Mugaas. 2 April 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  14. "300m Art Space – History". 300m3.com. 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  15. http://www.images.ch/2008/Mettraux.htm
  16. Tony Immoos (May 2, 2010). "21st Century Bliss". Flickr. Retrieved April 11, 2014.

Further reading

External links

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