If you've ever used a Windows XP computer, you'll recognize the default wallpaper.

It's a blue sky with a few clouds on it. A rolling green hill.

The guy who took the photo was on his way to see his girlfriend in California's wine country in 1996 when he stopped to snap the iconic shot, called "Bliss."

"There's a time of the year in our mid-winter, in January, when we've had rains. The grass is now getting a brilliant green. The storms are still coming through with rain and clouds. While I'm driving this beautiful, winding road to see Daphne, my God, the storm has just gone through, there are some white clouds, boy, I think I'll just get out and make a couple of frames," the photographer, Charles O'Rear, tells CNET Australia.

But what's even more captivating than the story of how the photo became the Windows default is what the spot looks like now: