With the debut of macOS Monterey, Apple broke its eight-year tradition of releasing a photo wallpaper depicting the Californian landscape that the Mac update is oftentimes named after. macOS Big Sur, Catalina, and Mojave, for instance, all included nature-based wallpapers of their namesakes.
The Monterey update has an abstract stock background, but it’s lacking the usual shot of a mountainous area. So photographer Andrew Levitt and his friends set out to create their own version, and then released that wallpaper for all to use.
Levitt is famously known for venturing to actual sites that have inspired Mac wallpapers and recreating them, so he’s more than qualified to do the job. However, Monterey, the destination, came with its own challenges.
First of all, the crew couldn’t just scout for a place that resembled the one in the abstract picture. Since it was of a submerged canyon, shooting a similar place at an identical angle wasn’t practical. They hiked for days before finding a spot.
With the introduction of dark mode as a UI/UX design norm, Apple has also been unleashing dynamic versions—which transform over the course of the day—of its default wallpapers. To stay faithful to the challenge, the photographers had to remain at the same spot all day, shooting the scene from day to night.
The static version, previewed below, can be downloaded via Levitt’s blog. The dynamic 5K wallpaper is available here. Both variations are free.
This is very cool – I like the abstract desktop art that comes with macOS Monterey, but this is nicer! https://t.co/0W5AbLWQp0
— Duncan Anderson (@duncsand) November 3, 2021
If you’re all for giving your Mac a makeover, here’s an app to bestow it with that “coveted” MacBook Pro notch.
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