Monday Close-up: Little Big Garden

"Joe Kunkel picks beans in his largest garden at his Center Street home in Springville, Wednesday, Sept.9, 2009. Kunkel has been gardening in his three gardens at his home for 44 years."

Here at the Provo Daily Herald we have bit of doubled edged sword for photographers.

Every month, each photographer is given the freedom to go out and find their own story.

I'm still new, partial to this idea. Juggling two different mediums in hopes to have them both be perfect is challenging.

Don't get me wrong. I love being challenged. I love to write. But when I have to put more or less energy into writing or photographing, one or the other is going to lose some power.

Anyways, your one monthly story topic is seemingly endless. It can be on anything, and I've begun compiling a list on my phone.

But for my first one I wanted to find someone, something I knew nothing about. In addition, I wanted to up the ante and also do some sort of multimedia, too. I helped my co-worker Mark Johnston with his multimedia last week and it turned out awesome.

Well, when I was searching for a feature last week, I stumbled across Joe Kunkel. At first, he seemed hesitant to allow me into his life. But after a couple hours, my standalone turned into my first Monday Close-up.

He was an interesting guy, and while the story that attracted me to him was about his garden, it ended up being about him and his life.

I am more excited about my article than my photos or multimedia. I had great audio from my main interview, but subtle screeching sounds of passing cars ruined it for multimedia purposes. So I had to go back for something else between assignments.