Such different wallpapers: Microsoft paid 100 thousand for "Serenity" and 45 dollars for "Autumn"

The famous Windows XP desktop wallpaper called "Serenity" (Bliss) is considered the most popular photo of all time. Microsoft paid the photographer more than $100,000 for this picture. Another photographer, the author of the slightly less famous wallpaper "Autumn", received only $ 45.

Source: PetaPixel

American photographer Charles O'Rear gained popularity thanks to the picture "Serenity", which he took while traveling through the Napa and Sonoma wine valleys in California in January 1996. He sent the photo to the Westlight agency, which was absorbed by Bill Gates' company Corbis in 1998.

Later, Microsoft chose O'Rear's photo from thousands of other images in their stock library and paid the photographer an amount that, as is known, amounted to more than one hundred thousand dollars. However, at that time there were difficulties with sending the original image. The fact is that no delivery service undertook to send the picture because of the prohibitively high cost of insurance. As a result, the company simply paid the photographer for the flight so that he could deliver the photo himself.

The author of the picture "Autumn", photographer Peter Burian (Peter Burian), Microsoft paid much less. Burian sent the picture to Corbis, where, apparently, Microsoft acquired it for $ 300, of which the photographer received only 45.

That's such a different fate for the authors of the two photos. One received a huge amount of money, recognition and the opportunity to work with such major brands as Lufthansa, while the other earned the maximum for a good dinner on his picture.