Captivating landscapes
You probably know the Raspberry Pi, this mini-computer sold over 60 million copies, known for its accessibility and flexibility. When you use it with its in-house OS, namely Raspberry Pi OS, another detail stands out: its wallpapers. Among them, the famous Road image, a lonely road in Iceland under a cloudy sky, is undoubtedly the most iconic. Captured by Greg Annandale, this photo showed a major update to the device's operating system.
As PetaPixel tells us, each photo of Annandale tells a story. Whether it's Balloon in Bagan, Aurora under the Northern Lights, or even Fjord, these wallpapers bear witness to his travels around the world. His work is not limited to Raspberry Pi installed in private homes: it is also visible in schools, libraries, or on information screens that use this small computer. In 2019, Annandale even spotted his Icelandic Road photo at Auckland's Britomart station.
Photographer, but not only
Originally from the United Kingdom, Annandale juggles his job as a developer for the Raspberry Pi educational foundation with his passion for photography. Since 2012, he has been capturing landscapes and travel scenes, often for scientific or documentary projects. His approach even earned him a grant from the Royal Geographical Society. Despite a busy schedule, he continues to photograph remote locations, and tries to create images that are both aesthetic and meaningful.
With its 16 wallpapers integrated into the Raspberry Pi OS, Annandale has left its mark on the digital world. Although his photos have of course not achieved the notoriety of the famous Bliss of Windows XP, they are present in countless classrooms and other video tutorials. It is obviously a source of pride for the photographer to be seen so much, perhaps even more than certain other renowned photographers.
You can check out more of his photos on his site, for example. And this is an opportunity to ask yourself, do you ever use the default wallpapers on your devices? Personally for some time now, I have liked to use the animated landscape wallpapers provided with macOS.
