Simple Google searches aren’t working for me on this topic. The free desktop wallpapers that came with Win XP include one particular one, a purple stucco house with blue window frames. That one photo just begs me to find out – Where did it come from? Who would willingly paint their house that way? What does the rest of the neighborhood, and the interior, or the surrondings look like? And, if it was a model mock-up, or painted just for the shoot, or an incredibly sophiisticated photo manipulation, well, I’d like to know that answer, conclusively, as well.
Probably from a stock photo agency. You can find thousands of photos of interestingly painted old houses in a stock catalog.
I think they call came from HighTurn. Wiki article on the “bliss” image here.
What version of XP do you have? Mine does not seem to contain that background.
It’s called “Home.” The background image, not the version of XP. I have XP Pro SP2.
Here is an article from Vanity Fair magazine about another person’s search for the site where the Autumn image was photographed. (It’s in Burlington, Ontario.) You might follow the process he went through to find the source of your image.
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I’m not so sure what is so surprising about the colors used for the house - it looks like a typical Santa Fe style adobe house. Bright colors are often used on the trim.
Edited to add: While the XP photo is a Santa Fe style home, bright colors for homes are not uncommon. Check out these in Collioure, France.
Oh OK, I actually do have that one. I didn’t even notice it when skimming through the available backgrounds because I was looking for a “house” and all I saw in that photo was a “wall”. :smack: Plus it’s a pretty plain-looking light purple and based on the OP describing how unusual and fascinating this house seems to be I was expecting something more exotic.
By coincidence, one of today’s Google Sightseeing blog posts shows the location for the Bliss image (the default wallpaper from Windows XP) in Google Street View.
Caution: link also contains (very) low-resolution nudity.
Thanks guys, I at least have something to go on. Maybe some stock photo company will take credit, at some time, and I’ll hear about it. And I do think it’s an impressive picture. That is, IMHO, a pretty weird shade of purple to paint a house, and the stark blue window frames, and the homey touch of the herbs drying on the ladder rungs. I would do it myself, to a house I owned … if I owned one, and the housing authority/building codes allowed. Which doesn’t seem likely, to me.
I’ve created similar images in Photoshop. Depending on the details, it can be very time-consuming.
Some of them also come from internal submission by employees and are voted on by the development team.