Hey - you with the camera!

Security concerns since Sept. 11, 2001, have hampered the freedom to photograph. I was on assignment taking pictures of commuters at a train station in Boston when security personnel asked me to leave. I went to the bus station next door and was kicked out of there, too.

These concerns hummed in the background of my thought on a recent soggy day as I tried to stay dry and frame an image of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant against the fall foliage. Though I was standing across the Connecticut River from the Vernon, Vt., facility, I wondered if security guards were scanning the horizon with binoculars, looking for the likes of me - or for actual threats.

Across the water I heard garbled rumblings from the plant's outdoor loudspeakers. Were they warning me? Sending out an alarm? Concern coursed through me. Then I heard the amplified voice more clearly. It simply announced that a worker had a phone call. Whew!

After that diversion, I got back to trying to balance on the slick, leafy river bank so I could capture the precise angle for this picture.