Presumably they were on the lookout for masked figures in capes!

I remember being moved on for 'loitering' by the police when I was a teenager... I was rather outraged and felt it was very unfair... but in those days, an authority figure was an authority figure, we didn't back-chat or plead our human rights, we just went and loitered somewhere else

All this talk of the police state makes me wonder whether it is the policing which has changed, or our attitude to those in authority, and our perception of our rights. (Someone on here recently invoked the European Convention of Human Rights in response to a moderator censoring a post). Maybe a bit of both. But I don't think the 70s 80s and 90s were exactly a golden age of liberal policing compared to now.

Oh! My apologies, I must admit I missed that rather key fact. In that case the officer was wrong to make such an empty threat.

You never mentioned that he threatened you, in fact you said he walked away when you mentioned the law! As for the police injuring your spine, they're probably so worried about the sort of litigation you mentioned that they would rather leave you to burn to death rather than move you without a paramedic present. Well done!

What you see as a police state I see as the police attempting to maintain some sort of order at the scene of an incident. They probably have to deal with a lot of ghastly rubber neckers who like to use someone's misfortune for a bit of Youtube fame.

I'm playing devil's advocate a bit here, i'm well aware of the worrying aspects of police activities at demos etc

Having been in a road accident last year, if a member of the public was taking pictures, I would have been extremely grateful to any officer asking them to stop. A demonstration is a completely different scenario, of course taking pictures is in the public interest there.

At the time you took the pictures, how can you be sure that the police knew that no one was injured or that no offence had taken place? At my accident scene, they took their time ascertaining whether any one had been hurt, and did a lot of work examining the road surface to check for signs of dangerous driving.

I would have also probably have tried to take a few shots if I thought I could earn a few quid. The only difference is that I would have complied with the officer's request, as it wasn't unreasonable given the circumstances (accident scene, potential traffic offence, police officers trying to carry out their duties).

G - sometimes it's probably best to resist your urge to scold.

Now, it's a lovely afternoon, why don't you pop out onto your deck with your whistle and lie in wait for passing boats slightly exceeding the canal speed limit?

Maybe... But I would have thought another sony sensor would be more likely. Who knows!

I have this one too. A very good book for reminding yourself there's more to taking a photo than relying on the latest whizz bang technology. And that sharpness isn't the be all and end all. He even uses a Pentax (mainly)

If I wanted another book I'd look at something focusing on a specific field, such as Flash or Macro for instance, or more for inspiration, like a book of Andreas Gursky photography I love to flick through from time to time. Or something more philosophical, like Paul Hill's 'Approaching Photography'.

For digital techniques and technology, these things move quite quickly and are covered in great detail on the web, so I wouldn't bother buying a book on that sort of thing.

Thanks for posting Bret. (Not sure why you were worried about the reg plates tho!)

Does the lens sharpen up nicely at f8?