× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

The most viewed photograph in the entire world is about to disappear. That familiar rolling green hillside with peaceful, white clouds, the iconic Window’s XP Desktop ‘Bliss’ is being retired, as next month, Microsoft is rolling out a new default ‘wallpaper’ image. It is inestimable how many people have seen this photo, but it likely numbers in the billions.

“I can’t get away from it. It’s everywhere,” said Charles “Chuck” O’Rear, the jovial and down-to-earth man behind the camera. “Even in a place like North Korea, where there are things you would expect to see… there’s the Microsoft picture.”

As the world is waking up to the fact that the photo is soon going to be replaced, people around the globe want to know about the man who clicked the shutter. O’Rear recently got a call from a London newspaper, a T.V. station from the Netherlands is coming to film a documentary, and Microsoft recently sent O’Rear to Australia to be interviewed about the photo.