Is this the most viewed photo of all time?
Date July 18, 2012 - 3:40PM
Todd Wasserman of Mashable
and Ben Grubb of Fairfax Media
The most famous photo in
the world? ... Bliss. Photo: Charles O'Rear/Microsoft
It may not be as well known
as the Mona Lisa, but Charles O'Rear's photo, Bliss, may have been viewed as
many times, if not more.
If it were shown to a villager in rural
China, for example, good chance they would recognise it.
Charles O'Rear
Published in 2002, the photo
got most of its distribution as the default desktop wallpaper for Microsoft's
Windows XP's "Luna" theme. O'Rear snapped the photo while he was on a
break from another assignment in California's Napa Valley.
Portrait of Mona Lisa.
O'Rear, a former National
Geographic staffer, didn't disclose what Microsoft paid for rights to the
photo, but O'Rear has said it's "extraordinary".
of this article, today that
he would be "in deep trouble" if he revealed the price and that he
did not want to quit his day job at the time Microsoft paid him for it.
"Did Bill Gates quit
his day job when he made his first gazillion dollars? It appears he didn’t. Nor
do I want to quit my day job just because of the Bliss photo. The fun is just
beginning!"
Long acknowledged for its
exposure across the globe, the photo drew attention once again on Monday when a
photo blog claimed the audience for the photo had reached 1
billion. The entry got wide circulation on Google+.
However, O'Rear told
Mashable that the 1 billion figure "has always been a guesstimate".
However, "all the folks I talk with agree it is the most 'recognisable'
photo ever", he said.
"If it were shown to a
villager in rural China, for example, good chance they would recognise it. If
it were shown to astronauts on the ISS, good bet they would know it, too. I
have seen it appear in photos of the White House situation room, the Kremlin,
etc."
Can you think of a photo
that might have been seen more times?
http://mashable.com/
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