In 1998, photographer Charles “Chuck” O’Rear was driving from Sonoma County through Napa on his way to Marin County. His mission was to meet the woman who eventually became his wife, Daphne. In January, as most California natives know, the rains come, and the hills explode into green for a few months before the withering summer heat browns them once again.
O’Rear, a 25-year veteran of National Geographic, drove down the road, then pulled over. That stretch of Highway 12 is narrow and windy, with only a narrow shoulder for stopping one’s car. At the bottom of a steep embankment is a barbed-wire fence. And in 1998, when O’Rear took his famous “Bliss” photo, all he could see was an emerald green hill, a ridge behind it, and a few puffy clouds.
