July 31 // 5:05PM
The Palouse // Washington State
In the winter of 1996, Bill O’Rear made a photograph on film of a hill in California’s wine country. It was simplistic – a blue sky with puffy clouds over a gently rolling hill with beautiful light weaving through it.
Microsoft contacted Bill in 2000, and purchased the rights to the photo for an undisclosed amount, but Bill later confirmed that it was the second highest amount ever paid for a single photograph up to that point. The film couldn’t be shipped to Microsoft HQ, because of it’s value, so Bill had to fly to Microsoft to deliver the image in person. Even as he delivered the photo, he still didn’t know what it would be used for.
Microsoft called the photo “Bliss”, and it shipped with Windows XP as it’s default wallpaper. It’s now thought to be the most viewed photograph in history.
I think a lot of landscape photographers have emulated this photo. It’s simplicity and elegance. Whether modern landscape photographers are proud of their emulations or not, when you see these scenes, I think you can’t help but shoot it and think “this is my ‘bliss’ shot”.
Here’s mine. Not the same hill at all, and not even in the same state. The photo was made in Washington State’s Palouse region where the rolling hills are covered with wheat fields.