Charles O'Rear | |
|---|---|
.jpg) O'Rear in 2007 | |
| Born | November 26, 1941 Butler, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Notable work | Bliss |
| Spouse | Daphne Larkin |
Charles O'Rear (born November 26, 1941) is an American photographer, known for photographing Bliss, the default wallpaper of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, and for being a National Geographic photographer from 1971 to 1995.
O'Rear was born in Butler, Missouri, and developed an interest in photography at a young age. He started his career at the Butler Daily Democrat and later worked as a photographer for the Emporia Gazette, The Kansas City Star, and Los Angeles Times newspapers. He worked as a freelancer for The New York Times and Western Airlines. O'Rear participated in the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica project in the 1970s, where he is credited with the most photographs. He was hired by National Geographic in 1971, where he covered Old Believers, Napa Valley, and various international stories. He worked for the magazine until 1995 and is the only photographer to have appeared on its cover.
Following his Napa Valley assignment in 1978, O'Rear developed an interest in wine photography, relocated to St. Helena, California, and formed the Los Angeles-based stock photo agency Westlight in 1980. In January 1998, he captured a stock photo of a green rolling hill and cirrus clouds during a daytime sky in southern Sonoma County. After the acquisition of Westlight by Bill Gates' Corbis, O'Rear was approached by Microsoft, who offered to buy full rights to the photograph; they renamed it Bliss and chose as the default wallpaper of Windows XP. Journalists have speculated it to be the most-viewed photograph in history. O'Rear continued to cover Napa Valley by publishing coffee table books and books about wines and vineyards with his wife, Daphne Larkin. The couple moved to Brevard, North Carolina, in 2017, and by 2020, O'Rear had retired.