Bliss (image)

"Bliss" is the name of a BMP image produced from a photograph of a landscape in Napa County, California, east of Sonoma Valley.cite web | last =Turner | first =Paul | title ="No view of Palouse from Windows" | publisher =The Slice | date =February 22, 2004 | url =http://s-r.com/local/story_txt.asp?date=022204&ID=s1490284 | accessdate = 2007-01-09] It is so named because it contains rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds. The image is used as the default computer wallpaper for the "Luna" theme, which is included with Microsoft Windows XP.

The photograph was taken by the professional photographer Charles O'Rear, a resident of St. Helena, Napa County, for digital-design company HighTurn. O'Rear has also taken photographs for Bill Gates' private Seattle stock photography company Corbis and Napa Valley photographs for the May 1979 "National Geographic Magazine" article "Napa, Valley of the Vine". Although O'Rear's focus was on photographing winemaking in the Napa Valley, the hill in Bliss didn't have grapevines when the photograph was being taken in the late 1990s. This was because of a bug infestation in the grapes as a result of which the entire vineyard had to be pulled out, and the hill was covered by only grass. The photograph was taken [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=CA-12%2FCA-121&daddr=CA-12%2FCA-121&hl=en&geocode=FabERwIdqsq1-A%3B&mra=ls&sll=38.251932,-122.374306&sspn=0.136962,0.2211&ie=UTF8&ll=38.247887,-122.381516&spn=0.136969,0.2211&t=h&z=12 aside] the highway 12/121, and by a hand held view camera.

O'Rear's photograph inspired Windows XP's US$ 200 million advertising campaign [ [http://blog.nestlepoell.net/2007/03/16/windows-xp-trivia/ Windows XP Trivia] ] "Yes you can.", by the San Francisco division of New York City advertising company McCann-Erickson. [ [http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=904871 Microsoft Hopes "Ray of Light" Makes XP Shine] ] [ [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3832365/Windows-XP-takes-to-the.html Windows XP takes to the air] ] The campaign was launched on TV on ABC during one of ABC Sports's "Monday Night Football" [ [http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/22875/22875.html Windows XP Marketing: Yes You Can] games of the 2001 NFL season] . The TV commercials included Madonna's "Ray of Light" song, whose TV rights cost Microsoft about $14 million. [ [http://www.infosatellite.com/news/2001/10/a251001windowsxp.html The Complete Windows XP] – Warning: This link opens popups. ]

In November 2006, artist collaboration Goldin+Senneby visited the site in Sonoma Valley where the Bliss image was taken, re-photographing the same view ten years later. Their work AfterMicrosoft [ [http://www.goldinsenneby.com/gs/?p=81 "AfterMicrosoft" by Goldin+Senneby] ] was first shown in the exhibition "Paris was Yesterday" at gallery La Vitrine in April 2007 [ [http://www.hanne-mugaas.com/artblog/2007/04/paris_was_yesterday.html Paris was Yesterday] ] and has later been exhibited at Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo [ [http://www.galeriavermelho.com.br/v2/exposicoes.asp?cursor=10&id_exposicoes=71&estaPagina=apresentacao&tempo=2212008011147 Looks Conceptual, Galeria Vermelho] ] , and 300m3 in Gothenburg. [ [http://www.300m3.com/mycomputer/ MyComputer, 300m3] ]

In February 2007, in the collective exhibition "Accrochage Vaud 2007" at "Espace Arlaud" in Lausanne, Sébastien Mettraux, a Swiss artist showed a photograph titled "Colline verdoyante", d'après Bill Gates, 2006", translated as "Bliss, after Bill Gates, 2006". [ [http://www.sebastien-mettraux.ch/english1.html "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 says that Bill Gates went to this region in order to visit a famous Swiss watch manufacturer, and that he took the photograph called "bliss" himself in this place.

The image is also available as one of the many image options on Capital One credit cardsFact|date=February 2007, and has been subject to many parodies.

ee also

*Energy Blue

External links

* [http://www.fsc-mediaserver.com/mediaserver/clientview/server/marcom/index.cfm?itemsperPage=36&fuseaction=list&page=1&fid=S2506&search=false&CFID=949080&CFToken=96324357 High resolution version (tiff) of the image]

References