I spend a lot of time at my computer. A lot of time. Too much time, really.

And I like a pretty screen to look at. I’ve tweaked Vista so that all desktop icons are hidden. I keep about a dozen instances of Chrome running at any given time, but only one window up at a time – and not maximized. 

I have a 17″ laptop with a rather good screen resolution. It’s very sharp, and I like it a lot. (Another good reason to get a 17″ laptop? 10-key, baby, it’s all about the 10-key)

For several months, I’ve had some generic Vista background graphic up, and it did the job well enough. Somewhat interesting, yet still calming to my eye. I can’t stand a cluttered desktop. But I really prefer to use beautiful nature photographs for a background.  For a long time, I had a close-up macro photo of a pale pink iris in my garden – I mean really close-up, a photograph of the place where the petals converge, and it showed the really interesting color variations of the iris’ beard. So it met my requirements of pretty, calming, nature, and interesting.

But in the past week or so, I’ve come across several photos that would each make fantastic desktop backgrounds.  I’ve had one up for about a week, but now I can’t decide.  So I figured I’d post smaller versions here and solicit opinions.

Found via WeLoveDC.com, the iconic view of the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin, at a non-iconic time of year. 

 

 Also found via WeLoveDC.com, a stone bridge in Rock Creek Park in DC. I’ve never been there, but what a beautiful photograph.

 

 When I take photographs, I’m influenced by the work of Jon Armstrong. Photo taken in Destin Florida. This photo works well even when stretched to fit the screen.

So, opinions? Comment here, or email me at hazelmoon1 at gmail dot com.