Hamad Darwish

Hamad Darwish is a Kuwaiti medical imaging physicist and photographer. He is best known for taking two wallpapers that were used in Windows Vista: img18 and img21, while an extra wallpaper named img37 was included in the downloadable Ultimate Extras pack.

Involvement in Windows Vista
In 2005, Microsoft's Jenny Lam was impressed by his photography on Flickr, leading her team to anonymously contact him about selling photos. After giving approval, he later received an offer from MSX Design Group to take photos to be used as wallpapers for Windows Vista. After accepting the offer, he was hired and sent on a photo shoot in Oregon, USA, capturing roughly 6000 shots. He was given freedom on where and what he could take photos of, although he was given rules regarding the colors and spacing. He had to pick 15 of his best, while Microsoft picked only 5 to purchase, and 2 to actually be used in Vista. Despite the small selection in the end, he is the only Vista photographer with more than one wallpaper included. He felt that the process was very professional, while Microsoft employees stated that he did not have "ego problems" that some professional photographers have.

Darwish later released many of the rejected wallpapers in a pack on his website. These were featured in the experimental Xcerion web-based operating system, under a wallpaper category named after himself.

Legacy
Darwish's images were met with a highly positive reception from consumers, and he was interviewed by two websites and several magazines regarding them. He was impressed by the amount of exposure the deal gave him, stating that it is "beyond imagination" and that "millions of people from all over the world that are quite familiar with my name and my humble work". Although his photos are considered to be of a high standard, he had only been using a camera for two years prior to being contacted by Microsoft, while his main profession is a medical imaging physicist. He grew up watching his father take photos, which eventually led to him pursuing photography as a hobby. He has since released 32 of the images from the photo shoot in high resolutions.

He remembers the photo shoots fondly, stating in 2020 that he remembers taking img18 "like it was yesterday".