Original Windows Xp Wallpaper Review

He didn't think much of it. He sent the roll of Fuji Velvia film to his lab, scanned the best shot, and uploaded it to a stock photo database called Westlight (later bought by Corbis).

For four years, that photo sat in a database under the generic name: "Rolling Green Hills, California." original windows xp wallpaper

That beautiful, sweeping vista?

"I literally pulled over to the side of the road," O’Rear later recalled. "I had my camera in the trunk. I got out, walked about 50 feet up the hill, and took four shots." He didn't think much of it

But you don’t remember the box. You remember the image inside. "I literally pulled over to the side of

Then, Microsoft came calling. Microsoft’s art director was searching for "Pastoral landscapes without people." They found O’Rear’s hill. They wanted exclusivity—meaning no other company, ad agency, or calendar printer could ever use that hill again.

Charles O’Rear is 83 now. He still lives in Napa. He still shoots film. He laughs when people ask him if he’s sick of looking at the hill.