When I was starting out in hobby photography in my early teens, I felt that I had to cling to all forms of automatic assistance to coordinate my shots for me: I would merely point the camera, and would let auto-focus and auto-exposure (the infamous P mode, or even worse, AUTO mode, with assistance of the on-camera flash) handle the rest. After all, computers are much better at multi-tasking than we mortals are, and that dreaded M mode seemed to have way too many settings with opposite effects. Better safe than sorry… right?

On the 21st of July, my wonderful home country of Belgium (autonymously België or Belgique) celebrates its National Day (or literally “the national holiday” as we call it). As with other nations, this is hypothetically a day to show off everyone’s patriotism. A day to show gratitude for living in one of the most peaceful, fair and prosperous places that the world has known throughout its history. A day to show our unity as a people and to stress why it makes sense for our country to exist as a sovereign country. Well, not here.

Read it in Dutch or, once I get around to translating it, in English.