There’s more than meets the eye in this 2017 Images of Edina award-winning photograph. It won first place in the plants and animals category as well as being last year’s overall winner. While the photograph showcases beautiful fall colors and breathtaking wildlife, the man behind the camera William “Bill” Webb tells a much larger story of the beauty of life. Webb is well known as a retired band director from Edina High School, where he taught for 24 years.
He also served as an associate director of Edina’s local community band, Minnesota Symphonic Winds, for 30 years. But in 2015 Webb was left unable to walk after an unexpected medicinal side effect. “It changed my hobby from music to photography,” Webb says.
Webb has limited access to the natural beauty of his backyard. So he moved his desk in front of a window overlooking Lake Edina and invested in a Canon 60D camera. Webb had been in his bedroom when he saw the chance for this unbelievable shot. The colorful foliage and the beautiful cardinal sat just outside of his window and his camera happened to be by his side. “The cardinal was just sitting in the very bright sunlight,” he says. “It [the photograph] would likely overexpose if I had just taken it that way. I quickly lowered the exposure … The photo and the colors just popped.”
We still love Webb’s story of learning to look closer at the beauty all around us. “We all get so tied up in our daily lives,” Webb says. “It’s there, but we don’t really take the time to see it. There’s extraordinary beauty that’s going on all the time.”
