1. Charles O'Rear was born on November 26,1941 and is an American photographer and author, 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.
Charles O'Rear 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.
Charles O'Rear then worked as a freelancer for The New York Times and Western Airlines.
Charles O'Rear participated in the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica project in the 1970s, where he is credited with the most photographs.
Charles O'Rear was hired by National Geographic in 1971, covering Old Believers, Napa Valley, and various international stories.
Charles O'Rear worked for the magazine until 1995 and is the only photographer to have appeared on its cover.
Charles O'Rear continued to cover Napa Valley by authoring coffee table books and books about wines and vineyards with his wife, Daphne Larkin.
Charles O'Rear was born on November 26,1941, in Butler, Missouri.
Charles O'Rear's mother, a Humansville native, was a journalist, home economist, and social worker.
Charles O'Rear grew up in his home state and was interested in aircraft during his youth, obtaining a pilot license by the age of 16.
Charles O'Rear worked as a sports reporter on behalf of Butler High School.
Charles O'Rear graduated from the school in 1959 and attended the Emporia State University, then known as Kansas State Teachers College, in the 1960s.
Charles O'Rear is a member of The Photo Society, a group of prominent magazine photographers.
Charles O'Rear has been interested in photography since he was ten years old, when he obtained a Kodak Brownie camera.
Charles O'Rear started his photographic career as a sports reporter for the Butler Daily Democrat.
Charles O'Rear covered the first Super Bowl game for the newspaper but left the newspaper in 1968, after which he began working as a freelance photographer.
From 1972 to 1977, O'Rear was part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica project, aimed at "photographically documenting the subjects of environmental concern in America during the 1970s" along with 70 other photographers, including Bill Strode, Danny Lyon, and John H White.
Charles O'Rear is credited with the most photographs in the final Documerica collection.
Charles O'Rear took photographs of Honolulu, Hawaii, Nebraska, Las Vegas, Arizona, California, and Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.
Charles O'Rear noted that O'Rear's Hitchhiker With His Dog photograph from May 1972 was considered one of the most popular photographs from the Documerica project.
Charles O'Rear said that the National Geographic editors did not know that Napa Valley was a vineyard region.
Charles O'Rear became interested in wine photography after the assignment.
Charles O'Rear was tasked by the magazine with covering international stories in the 1980s.
Charles O'Rear traveled to Indonesia in 1985 on another assignment, during which he used 500 rolls of film and took over 15,000 photographs.
Charles O'Rear later recalled that his photographs from Indonesia, France, and Turkey are some of his favorite.
Charles O'Rear was assigned with photographing at the Mexican Riviera and in Canada and Siberia.
In 1993, Charles O'Rear covered a story about bacteria in St Helena, California.
Charles O'Rear is the only photographer to ever appear on the magazine's cover, having appeared twice; on the cover of "The Chip: Electronic Mini Marvel That is Changing Your Life" in 1982, regarding microchip production in the Silicon Valley, and "The Bird Men," appearing as an aircraft pilot, in 1983.
Charles O'Rear recalled that he earned more than US$100,000 from his photographs after the 1982 story.
Charles O'Rear co-founded Westlight, a Los Angeles-based photo agency, with photographer Craig Aurness in 1980.
Charles O'Rear recalled that he was looking for an opportunity to shoot a photograph that day, considering that a storm had passed over and winter rains had left the hill green.
Charles O'Rear drove along the Sonoma Highway, California State Route 121 intersecting 12, and came to a stop in southern Sonoma County.
Charles O'Rear used a Mamiya RZ67 medium-format camera and Fujifilm's Velvia color film to take the photograph.
Charles O'Rear made it available as a stock photo through Westlight, which was bought by Bill Gates' Corbis in May 1998.
Charles O'Rear had to personally deliver the film to Microsoft in Seattle due to delivery services declining because of its high value.
The Napa Valley Register reported that Charles O'Rear was paid "in the low six figures".
Charles O'Rear had signed a confidentiality agreement and cannot disclose the exact amount.
Charles O'Rear estimated that the photograph was seen on a billion computers worldwide.
Charles O'Rear continued to work on covering Napa Valley after Bliss, publishing several coffee table books and books about different types of wines, as well as a book about Beringer Vineyards.
In Napa Valley: The Land, the Wine, the People, Charles O'Rear covered vineyards in varied environmental conditions, vineyard history, wineries, and wine's presence in restaurants and excursions.
Charles O'Rear discussed custom vehicle registration plates that included wine.
The book includes a photograph of Bliss, which Microsoft allowed Charles O'Rear to include in the book.
In 2017, Charles O'Rear was hired by Lufthansa to work on the "New Angles of America" project.
Charles O'Rear captured the Maroon Bells, the White Pocket in Arizona, and the Peek-A-Boo Slot in Utah.
Charles O'Rear has been married three times and has one child with his first wife, Mary Wright.
Charles O'Rear had another child with Wright in 1961 who died shortly after birth.
Charles O'Rear had previously lived in an apartment and a condominium until purchasing a home in St Helena in 1989.
Charles O'Rear has written, produced, and photographed books about wine and wine regions since 1989.
Charles O'Rear has worked with his wife on several books, including Wine Across America and Napa Valley: The Land, the Wine, the People, and with designer Jenny Barry.