The quest for Autumn: Windows XP's elusive backdrop

It's no secret that people have been fascinated, or at least intrigued, by wallpapers and screensavers since the desktop first graced their eyes, and judging by the sheer multitude of websites and man-hours devoted to perfecting the screen that you so rarely see once you launch that first app, it's also no shock to hear a tale of such obsession. Although Autumn may not be most people's default background in Windows XP, it's still well regarded, and for one Vanity Fair writer, it sparked a worldwide quest to find its origin. Expecting the task to be one of relative ease in the age of email, meta tags, and digital archives, he began by questioning the usual suspects about its humble beginnings, but to his dismay, was turned down time and time again by rights protectors who wouldn't divulge the author nor location of such a highly prized stock photograph. Eventually, his entire team was onboard in a furious (albeit seemingly futile) search to discover precisely where this image was shot, once leading to thoughts of permanent relocation if the locale was finally unearthed. After what seemed like months of running into brick walls, an email to Bill Gates himself resulted in an apparently automated response that belted out nothing more but the snapshot's place of origin, which incited fits of jovial celebration office-wide. To Campbellville, Ontario, Canada they headed, in desperate need to visit the orangey area so burned into their memories, and thanks to the purportedly mysterious workings of a co-worker, they even landed the shooter's name. Eventually, the journey led them to a rarely traveled path in the city of Burlington, where the old Harris Homestead quietly sat behind a vigilant row of bare trees surrounded by glistening white snow. It truly was Winter, at last for the adventurous crew, but it certainly gives us pause when deciding whether or not to seek out the origin of Ascent and Azul in our spare time.

[Taylor @ Feb 22nd 2007 4:57AM]

Damn, i love people dedicated to random shit, that's awesome! I would love to hear about Azul though...
-Taylor

[zacsfirepan @ Feb 22nd 2007 7:47AM]

It looks like Boracay in the Philippines to me.

[Ben Warburton @ Feb 22nd 2007 6:11AM]

Ahh Burlington. If any of you ever have the means to get there, do so. Its lovely. I'm sure I've been within 5 miles of that very place. I bought a car there once.

That said, you'd think a techie would love to live in Seattle, but goddamn do I miss the east.

[sinjinn @ Feb 22nd 2007 6:41AM]

thats a well written article. well done guy , that was a great read. you dont expect a well written article on a page like this , but that was a well written aticle, unlike this comment .

[Sean Gadoury @ Feb 22nd 2007 6:59AM]

I live in Burlington. The public transit sucks. Nice trees.

[bonusfive @ Feb 22nd 2007 7:03AM]

So, where can I download the winter background? It'd be nice to have a seasonal background of the same place...

[HungD @ Feb 22nd 2007 7:24AM]

@bonusfive

If you RTFA there's a link to the original shooter's website which includes other photos.

[tom @ Feb 22nd 2007 8:23AM]

well its NOT

[Mobi Fin @ Feb 22nd 2007 8:32AM]

Very well done Murph. Highly unlike the usual array of tripe I find on these pages.

****

[o0adam0o @ Feb 22nd 2007 8:42AM]

Care to see the google earth satellite image of this place?

http://googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=1317&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=43.428992,-79.925258&z=18

[andrew @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:06AM]

this was a sweet post...!

[Arno @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:39AM]

Nice post.

[Billiam25 @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:54AM]

Cool story. Ive always wondered about the origins of the default xp wallpaper, I think its called Bliss.

[z @ Feb 22nd 2007 7:30PM]

Bliss. Some say it's from somewhere in Napa, but hey, it's from a Swiss trip that Bill made in the ninetees, in the flatter part of Switzerland.. It seems some PR guy or gal at MS believed it wouldn't be good publicity to confirm that it wasn't in the US... All about the 'Bliss' place is here:
http://www.zzz.ch/photos/landscapes/switzerland/joux/colline_des_taupes/

[Mark @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:31AM]

This was a cool article. I would like to have 4 images of the area, 1 of each season. That would make a cool wallpaper! That would be cool if someone put a camera there that took 1 picture every day so the background was whatever the season/weather was.

[Jason Heminger @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:53AM]

What a stupid waste of time. I wish I could get paid that much to write pointless articles like this.

[jimlewis @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:07AM]

Jason: instead you get paid nothing to write stupid comments like that.

[assent99446 @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:57AM]

It does look like boracay to me but can't be sure http://flickr.com/search/?q=boracay&s=int

Around the west side of the island maybe

[Bill @ Feb 22nd 2007 12:41PM]

Bliss was shot somewhere in eastern Washington. I believe near Dayton. I've driven through the area hundreds of times and during the right time of year it's exactly like the picture except it goes on for miles. It would be hard to tell the exact spot where the picture was shot.

[airpolgas @ Feb 22nd 2007 1:07PM]

What the hell are all these Boracay comparisons? Boracay is an island with white sand beaches, so it definitely is not Boracay.

[UpIrons @ Feb 22nd 2007 2:13PM]

If anyone finds or knows where Azul is, I'm there dude!

[BAMF @ Feb 22nd 2007 2:38PM]

Where does Microsoft get the images for the default wallpapers?

http://images.google.com

[hobnob @ Feb 22nd 2007 3:19PM]

2270 8th Sideroad Burlington Ontario Canada

[Bill @ Feb 22nd 2007 3:34PM]

Since I now have a 16:10 monitor I don't use them.

I now use pics mostly from http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/ for my wallpaper and slideshow screensaver.

I also use pictures I take with my 6mp DSLR.

[ferny @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:02PM]

I remember coming across this one day on the internet.

this one is the original xp background bliss, its in switzerland

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/9841/collinexpil5.gif

[willentrekin @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:08PM]

Besides being "one Vanity Fair writer," Nick Tosches is also a rather influential (if not major) writer, known for his fiction and his writings on Rock and Roll. His first book was a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, and his novels, like "Cut Numbers" and "In the Hand of Dante" have been interesting literary endeavors, if nothing else.

[Peter Burian @ Feb 24th 2007 9:43AM]

As the photographer who took the Autumn photo (used in Windows XP) I'm surprised that this has become such a big deal.

Two newspapers have also run articles about it, and a TV station (Global in Ontario) ran a story about it as well.

http://www.thestar.com:80/article/184493

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/pdfs/20070223/A2.pdf

In any event, I have had my "15 minutes of fame" and it was fun.

Peter Burian
www.peterkburian.com

[Trout @ Mar 15th 2007 8:50PM]

Has anyone studied the clouds in xp wallpaper Azul.The creator obviously has a sense of humour and artistic talent with photoshop or similar. WHAT CAN YOU SEE?

[3G6L8 @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:22AM]

I too am looking for the location of where Azul.jpg was taken. Just want to go there and lie on that sand island for the day in this hectic fast paced world we live in and forget about everything around.