Lufthansa Hired Photographer Who Shot Windows XP Wallpaper To Take 3 New Wallpapers, And He Delivered Once Again
According to some estimates, about 1 billion people have seen Windows XP’s iconic PC wallpaper “Bliss,” making it the most viewed photograph in the world. Now, 21 years after he made the famous photo, Charles O’Rear aims to produce “the next generation of wallpaper photos,” and they look just as blissful.
“I am turning seventy-six and realize how much the Bliss Windows wallpaper has meant to my life,” O’Rear said. “As the photographer of the most viewed photo in history, I have enjoyed every minute of fame.”
This time, the project called New Angles of America is directed towards smartphone users. “I am thrilled to create for Lufthansa a sequel to the “Bliss” photo on smartphones so that my beautiful views of other places can continue to be enjoyed by millions of people. After all, smartphones have become the primary place for the world to see new and beautiful images. And, I’m glad to be part of it.”
In 1996, O’Rear captured his beautiful photo in Sonoma County, California, with a medium format camera while on his way to see his girlfriend. At first, the image was sent to Corbis – an American advertising and licensing company – and afterward Microsoft purchased its rights in 2000, one year before the launch of Windows XP.
More info: newanglesofamerica.com (h/t petapixel)
This is Charles O’Rear, the photographer behind Windows XP “Bliss”
Image credits: Lufthansa
O’Rear captured his famous shot in Sonoma County, California, with a medium format camera while on his way to see his girlfriend
Image credits: Charles O’Rear
“I am turning seventy-six and realize how much the Microsoft Bliss photograph has meant to my life. As the photographer of the most viewed photo in history, I have enjoyed every minute of the fame”
Image credits: profimedia
This time, he aims to produce “the next generation of wallpapers” for smartphones users. This shot is titled Maroon Bells (Colorado)
Image credits: Charles O’Rear
Peek-A-Boo Slot (Utah)
Image credits: Charles O’Rear
White Pocket (Arizona)
Image credits: Charles O’Rear
“I am thrilled to create for Lufthansa a sequel to the “Bliss” photo on smartphones so that my views of other beautiful places can continue to be enjoyed by millions of people”
Image credits: Lufthansa
For more information, watch the video below
The newer one with the lazery looking window is a real photo too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8BBOwupcI
Load More Replies...To all of you missing the Windows wallpaper, you know you can change it, do you? :)
Talent is just greater with the years, if they keep practicing :)
Load More Replies...No mention of the sheep Photoshopped out of the original? Sound like an article with little substance.
That Maroon Bell picture is so amazing! I'm gonna make it my lock screen :) Thanks Charles O'Rear
All of the new ones are good too! I might "grab" Maroon Bells for a test ride XD
I'm still dreaming to become a professional photographer like him, very much in love to the beauty of nature 😍
Im still dreaming to become a famous nature photographer like him, very much in love to the beauty of nature 😍😘
Love the XP wallpaper although the newer photos are sort of point and shoot, full respect to him. This is mine I wish could be considered. download-5...8bccf7.jpg
There is nothing earth shattering about those pictures, either "Bliss" or the new ones. Go to a photography site like 1x or 500px and you'll find plenty of nature photos from many photographers at a comparable quality. Among them, there will be a lot usable for wallpapers. It was chance "Bliss" was selected for Windows and became so popular. Sure, back in the '90ies you needed a medium format camera to achieve the needed technical quality, but today hardware is not an issue any more.
You needed medium format to make that photo in the 90's? Ummmm no. No you didn't. A 35mm film frame has a little over 20MP equivalent resolution which is well more than enough, and the lenses were plenty able to handle that level of detail.
Load More Replies...There may be multiple versions of the same photos too, to fit the various shapes of various screens on various devices. But we are shown only these ones in the post for practical reasons.
Load More Replies...The newer one with the lazery looking window is a real photo too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8BBOwupcI
Load More Replies...To all of you missing the Windows wallpaper, you know you can change it, do you? :)
Talent is just greater with the years, if they keep practicing :)
Load More Replies...No mention of the sheep Photoshopped out of the original? Sound like an article with little substance.
That Maroon Bell picture is so amazing! I'm gonna make it my lock screen :) Thanks Charles O'Rear
All of the new ones are good too! I might "grab" Maroon Bells for a test ride XD
I'm still dreaming to become a professional photographer like him, very much in love to the beauty of nature 😍
Im still dreaming to become a famous nature photographer like him, very much in love to the beauty of nature 😍😘
Love the XP wallpaper although the newer photos are sort of point and shoot, full respect to him. This is mine I wish could be considered. download-5...8bccf7.jpg
There is nothing earth shattering about those pictures, either "Bliss" or the new ones. Go to a photography site like 1x or 500px and you'll find plenty of nature photos from many photographers at a comparable quality. Among them, there will be a lot usable for wallpapers. It was chance "Bliss" was selected for Windows and became so popular. Sure, back in the '90ies you needed a medium format camera to achieve the needed technical quality, but today hardware is not an issue any more.
You needed medium format to make that photo in the 90's? Ummmm no. No you didn't. A 35mm film frame has a little over 20MP equivalent resolution which is well more than enough, and the lenses were plenty able to handle that level of detail.
Load More Replies...There may be multiple versions of the same photos too, to fit the various shapes of various screens on various devices. But we are shown only these ones in the post for practical reasons.
Load More Replies...
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