Despite what one may think when coming across this blog, with its boring shades of gray that, hey, I didn't design, I am nonetheless very highly appreciative of some aesthetic treatment given to my desktop.

A few years ago--actually, about a decade ago--one of the coolest things I'd come across on the web was http://www.webshots.com/. The collections there, I thought, were staggering. So much so that I thought it worth the $20 or so yearly fee to pay for the software and membership that gives me access to premium wallpapers. I had a love-hate relationship with it, actually.. every time I reinstalled my operating system or set up a new computer, whenever I put WebShots on it I had to remember to reconfigure it or else that annoying camera icon would show up on the system tray.

Recently I obtained a 30" monitor at work, which is wonderful, but the resolution on the thing being 2560x1600 I found pretty much any wallpaper to be a stretched, distorted eyesore. Even the Windows Vista desktop wallpapers didn't seem to give it justice. And I haven't had a Webshots subscription for a few years, but even if I did, most of their "premium" wallpapers are only half the resolution of my 30" screen. Then I considered snatching up "high resolution" photos off of Flickr, since some of those photos are truly phenominal, but I found myself wasting a lot of time since very high resolution photos seemed to be pretty scarce there.

So I scoured around for a good source of free wallpapers, and, wow, I was blown away by what I found at InterfaceLift.com. Now all my co-workers keep telling me that they can't stop staring at my screen whenever my desktop is showing. "Your wallpapers are really incredibly nice, Jon." Yeah, I know .. and I get to stare at them any time I want.

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/index.php?sort=ratings&w=2560&h=1600